manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer clarified his comments on Marcus Rashford after it was reported that the star forward was unhappy with the manager telling him to “prioritise his football”. Solskjaer said he is proud of Rashford’s off-field contributions and took a dig at the media for making headlines without context.

Rashford earned widespread praise for his efforts to end child food poverty during the Covid-19 pandemic and earlier this month became the youngest recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester.

Solskjaer praised the 23-year-old’s efforts last week and said that he had to focus on his game as “he’s got a challenge on his hands here at Manchester United, he has a challenge on his hands to play for England.”

A few reports in the British media claimed that Rashford was not happy with the comments and there were a few negative reactions in the camp too. Rashford underwent shoulder surgery in August and played his first match since England’s Euro 2020 final defeat by Italy when he came on as a substitute in last Saturday’s 4-2 Premier League defeat by Leicester City.

“Just to get the elephant out of the room straight away with the headlines that came out from the chat I had before the last game. We’re so unbelievably proud of what Marcus has done off the pitch,” Solskjaer said on the eve of Manchester United’s Champions League game against Atlanta.

“You (journalists) know what was said and you made headlines out of one little comment that I never intended to be the focus of,” Solskjaer added.

“I was speaking about Marcus going into training not feeling his shoulder or his back and now he can just enjoy his football.”