Leny Yoro has opened up on Ruben Amorim’s intense training methods at Manchester United, giving a possible explanation behind Marcus Rashford’s exile.
Yoro has described training sessions under Amorim as “hard” and said the Portuguese coach is “really strict” when it comes to demanding the best of his players in practice.
However, the 19-year-old defender has revealed that the ex-Sporting CP manager can be unforgiving to players who show signs of laziness, a possible hint at why Rashford was dropped from the squad altogether by Amorim before he joined Aston Villa at the end of the winter transfer window.
“I have a good relationship with Ruben Amorim. I just try to do what he asks me to do. He’s big on communication with the players because he played at a top level,” Yoro said on Rio Ferdinand’s podcast. “He’s been at a lot of clubs, so he knows your feelings when you’re not playing or when you have a bad game. He knows how to speak with you, and that’s really important for me. In training, it’s really, I would say, hard. But it’s important.
“We have a lot of training and, for him, training is really important because you play the game like you train. The most important thing is to be really good in training. If you are not working, if you are lazy in training, he won’t like you – he’ll kill you! It’s normal because, yeah, you play like you train. He’s really strict on this because, to win games and trophies, you need to be disciplined outside the pitch. You need to be punctual.”
Rashford featured six times for United after the current boss took charge in November as Erik ten Hag’s permanent replacement. However, he was soon left out of the squad altogether as United aimed to offload the England international.
The Old Trafford side suffered a 2-0 loss to Crystal Palace at the weekend, ending a three-game winning run, and they will hope to bounce back in the FA Cup this week when they face Leicester, who appointed Ruud van Nistelrooy after his bright spell as United interim boss before Amorim’s arrival.
