Marcus Rashford’s absence from Manchester United is an “internal matter”, Erik ten Hag has said as speculation mounts about the striker.

The 26-year-old forward was left out of Ten Hag’s squad against Newport County on Sunday, three days after he was reportedly seen at a nightclub in Belfast.

The Man United manager said after the FA Cup game that Rashford “reported ill” on Friday and was unavailable.

“The rest is an internal matter,” he said. “I deal with it, we will deal with it.”

When Ten Hag arrived at the club in 2022, he said there was a “no good culture” and has attempted to tackle disciplinary issues during his time at Old Trafford.

When asked on Sunday if Rashford was an example of that “no good culture”, Ten Hag refused to answer.

“I don’t go in this case,” he said. “We talked before about it, we played a good game, and now we move on.”

Jadon Sancho, who is now playing for Borussia Dortmund on loan, did not play in any games for Man United after he said he was being made a “scapegoat” by Ten Hag on 3 September.

After Ten Hag’s post match interview, former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer said on Match of the Day that Rashford “can’t waste his talent”.

He said: “There’s a huge talent in there with Marcus Rashford, we saw him be disciplined last season when he was late for a meeting, he actually missed a game.

“But something is clearly wrong either at home, or his relationship with the football club because he can’t keep doing this.”

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Earlier this season, Rashford apologised to Ten Hag after having a birthday party just hours after United had lost 3-0 at home to Manchester City.

“It is unacceptable,” the manager said at the time. “I told him, he apologised and that is it.”

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