Aston Villa attempt to introduce strict Marcus Rashford ‘ban’ after move from Man Utd

Marcus Rashford has made an impressive start to life at Aston Villa after joining the Midlands side on loan from Manchester United on deadline day of the January transfer window

Aston Villa attempted to stop journalists asking players about Marcus Rashford following last week’s draw with Liverpool.

Rashford joined Villa on loan on January transfer window deadline day having been frozen out at Manchester United. His move to the Midlands has been seen as a chance for the Englishman to revistalise his career following a difficult few years at Old Trafford.

So far, he has made an impressive start to life at Villa Park. Boss Unai Emery has mostly used the attacker as a substitute, with Rashford coming off the bench to notch two assists in the comeback win over Chelsea on Saturday.

He also started against Liverpool as Villa held the runaway Premier League leaders to a draw. But it appears that Villa are less than keen to see Rashford make the headlines as they battle for a European qualification place.

According to the Daily Mail, journalists attempted to ask Youri Tielemans a question on his thoughts on Rashford’s performance against Liverpool. But Villa’s press officer jumped in to tell the media ‘No questions on Rashford’.

Journalists did eventually got hold of a quote from Tielemans speaking about Rashford following the win over Chelsea. The Belgian hailed the Englishman insisting he will be ‘very important’ for Villa over the run-in.

“Listen, Marcus is someone, he can threaten anyone one [versus] one, even one [versus] two, he’s very important for us in the way that he plays, because he gives us something on that left-hand side,” Tielemans said. “Today, every time he got the ball he was dangerous.”

Boss Emery has also been pleased with Rashford so far, particularly after his starring role against Chelsea. The Spaniard outlined how he will look to get the attacker back to his best.

“Support him. Help him. Try to [make him] feel comfortable here. Try to get confidence with us. Try to work … Try to use the skills in our tactical idea. Try as well to be demanding with him in our demands as well tactically and everything. And he’s in this process.

“Of course he played a fantastic 45 minutes. And really this is the only thing. We want to try to be consistent through him, in our squad and in our way we are going to do [that]. But he’s going to be hopefully very, very important like today.

“But hopefully more and more and more. And the most important for him is try to feel comfortable here. Try to get confidence. Be here in good atmosphere with us and this is my objective.”

Emery, Rashford and Villa had a more difficult day on Tuesday when they were hammered by Crystal Palace. Rashford played the final 22 minutes at Selhurst Park, but struggled to make an impact.

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