Rangnick dismissed any notion of Rashford still suffering the after-effects of post-Euro 2020 shoulder surgery.

"He is definitely not injured," said Rangnick.

"We have spoken a lot about Marcus in the last couple of weeks. I am pretty sure he is not happy with his performance right now but it doesn't help if we discuss that every week and talk about our thoughts about what it might be."

Rashford has only scored five goals all season - his lowest tally in a season is the nine in his breakthrough 2015-16 campaign when he only made 18 appearances.

Rashford started Wednesday's Champions League draw with Atletico Madrid but was heavily criticised for his performance and received two out of 10 for his 75-minute effort from the French newspaper L'Equipe.

His replacement on the night, Anthony Elanga, scored United's equaliser.

Rangnick feels 24-year-old Rashford is in a similar situation to the one forward Jadon Sancho found himself in a few weeks ago, when good performances in training were not being repeated in matches.

"Right now he is trying to find his best possible shape and performance and we just try to give him helping hands with everything we can," said Rangnick.

"We show him video footage and speak with him regularly. In training he is in top form, that's why I decided to play him.

"Now it's about having that transformation from training performance to the competition in the league. This is the next step he has to take.

"We had a very similar situation with Jadon six or seven weeks ago. He is the best example of what can happen. It's the player himself who has to perform and get the best out of his own performance."