Several Manchester United players reportedly believe they have identified the mole behind recent team news leaks. The Red Devils' line-up for the Manchester Derby was leaked on social media a day prior to the clash, with key players Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho notably absent from head coach Ruben Amorim's selection.
It has been claimed that some players, including Garnacho and Amad Diallo, were questioned over the leaks, but Amorim is convinced of their innocence.
United have suffered a dip in form since their derby triump, losing three consecutive league matches without finding the back of the net. Their latest setback saw them concede two early goals in a 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford to Newcastle.
Roberto Garnacho, Alejandro's brother, has also refuted claims he's the leak source, while Amorim remains committed to uncovering the truth. Members of their first-team squad have reportedly prompted their own inquiries to discover the source of the leak.
The Mail reports that players' representatives have approached them with names of potential informants, information allegedly sourced directly from the players themselves.
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Amorim, speaking to Sky Sports, justified his decision to drop Rashford and Garnacho by saying: "We try to evaluate everything – training performance, game performances, engagement with team-mates, push their team-mates up," adding, "Everything is on the line when we analyse and try to choose the players. It is my selection. Simple.
"I don't want to send a message it is simply an evaluation and they know it. The players are really, really smart. Everybody understands my decision and I have to choose. It is simple selection."
Garnacho and Rashford have both made appearances since the derby, with Garnacho coming off the bench in each of United's last three league games, while Rashford remained an unused substitute against Newcastle.
Next on the agenda for United is a clash with league leaders Liverpool, who under Arne Slot have lost just once all season across all competitions. They won the reverse fixture 3-0 at Old Trafford when Erik ten Hag was still in charge. Following United's latest defeat against Newcastle, Amorim acknowledged the difficulty of turning their fortunes around.
"It's really hard, I think it's really hard on everybody and you feel it on the pitch," he admitted. "I think we show some improvements in the first games, especially against [Manchester] City and Tottenham [in the Carabao Cup], even in Arsenal the first moment, but we are losing that because of the lack of training and the lack of belief after so many losses. Some difficult moments when you suffer some goals in the beginning of the games and then it's really hard during all the games.
"So it's a really tough moment for everybody and I think the players losing everything, the small things that we try to work on in training, after one goal, they lose everything because they don't have the base, we don't have time to build the base to cope with the difficult moments. So it's really hard in this moment."
