Rashford speaks out after claiming tabloid threatened to publish photo of him

Marcus Rashford has released a statement on Instagram after being contacted by a tabloid outlet over a photo of him allegedly posing with a convicted murderer.

Rashford, 27, is currently being frozen out of the Manchester United first team by Ruben Amorim after admitting last month that he is ready to leave his boyhood club.

The England international was left out of United's squad for their clash with Southampton on Thursday night, but just minutes before the team news was announced, he took to social media to write a lengthy post addressing a separate matter about his personal life.

The statement on his Instagram Story read: 'Been contacted today by a tabloid informing me that they plan to publish a photo of me with a rapper apparently taken over a year ago.

'I want to make it clear I have never seen this photo, I do not know this person and I am not friends with him. Like most footballers if someone asks for a photo with me, I will never refuse but I am obviously not able to do a background check on every individual that asks me for a photo.

'Can I please urge tabloids rather than focusing on me, to use their platforms to help raise awareness on the many charities and individuals that work daily throughout the UK to tackle knife crime to prevent more families suffering tragic loss.

'My deepest sympathy goes to the family of Jimmy Mizen.'

Rashford mentioning Mizen's name gives a strong indication that the United star is talking about allegedly being photographed with Jake Fahri, a rapper who performs with a balaclava and goes by the stage name TEN.

Fahri was sentenced to a minimum of 14 years in prison in 2009 for killing the 16-year-old schoolboy Mizen in May 2008.

He was recently released from prison and has made music promoted by the BBC.

However, following a probe by The Sun that revealed the balaclava-clad rapper is Fahri, the BBC banned his music from their radio stations.

This is not the first time that Rashford has spoken out after being photographed with a controversial musician.

Rashford and his former United team-mate Jesse Lingard were pictured with MC Wiley back in January 2022, despite the British grime artist being previously banned from Facebook and Twitter for a series of antisemitic posts.

Rashford reacted to the picture by writing on social media: 'This picture has been brought to my attention which I understand now, given context, could easily be misconstrued. I would like to reinforce that I do not and will not condone discriminative language or behaviour of any kind aimed at the Jewish community or any other community.'

When asked to further explain why he had decided to pose with Wiley by a United supporter, Rashford added: 'Hey Ben, I wasn’t aware of comments that had been made when I got pulled into a photo opportunity. Comments that I absolutely condemn. I apologise for any upset caused. We just all happened to be in the same place at the same time.

'I truly believe that tackling antisemitism in and outside of the game requires a greater level of attention and should very much form part of the game’s anti-racism stance.'