Manchester United will be banned from repeating the same tactics against other players as they did against Marcus Rashford in the near future. Rashford secured a season-long loan to Barcelona a year ago, but only after being forced out of the first team by Ruben Amorim and forced to spend time in the ‘bomb squad’.
Word spread at Chelsea, with Amorim deciding that Rashford’s attitude was unacceptable in the top group. He was kept out of training along with Alejandro Garnacho, Anthony, Jadon Sancho and Tyrell Malasia. The head coach at the time instructed everyone to find a new club before the transfer deadline closed. “Once again, we know it’s not good to put our players in this situation,” Amorim said at the time.
“But it’s clear that they want to play for another club, that’s obvious… So we’re trying to arrange everything so that both parts are happy. So I have to try to imagine training with the players that I think will be the future, and the other players are training and preparing for the next chapter.”
All but Malasia managed to secure transfers, but Rashford’s return from loan spell and Malasia’s release in the summer left the English forward as the only member of the bomb squad still remaining at Old Trafford. However, eventually this act would be officially prohibited.
Under FIFA’s new rules, a player will be able to request a free transfer if the club “removes the player from team training in an abusive manner”.
This means clubs risk losing the opportunity to recoup their fees, even if a player has many years left on his contract.
“Players will be better protected from cheating,” the players’ association FIFPRO said in a statement. “Demoting players, forcing isolated training as a form of pressure, withholding passports and abusing registration procedures are now expressly prohibited. These actions have affected too many players for too long and have no place in modern football.”
The new agreement will not enter into force until January 1, 2027. Nevertheless, this is a significant change and clubs may choose to adapt their approach by abandoning the practice of removing players well before the deadline.
United were not the only team to use this tactic last season. Chelsea treated a number of players in the same way, with England internationals Ben Chilwell and Raheem Sterling being the most prominent.
Several of these players have since left Stamford Bridge, with the likes of Armando Broja and Carney Chukwuemeka earning handsome wages. However, the Blues will need to identify a solution for Axel DiSasi and David Datro Fofana after securing only loan moves for them.
