Ralf Rangnick reveals that Man United star refused to travel to play Aston Villa

Ralf Rangnick has revealed that Anthony Martial refused to travel with Manchester United for their clash with Aston Villa on Saturday.

Martial has not played since the 3-2 win over Arsenal on December 2 and has been pushing for a move away from Old Trafford this month. United found themselves thin on the attacking front, and Rangnick explained after the game that his side were a player short due to Martial's refusal to travel.

"He didn't want to be in the squad," the former RB Leipzig boss said. "He would have been in the squad normally, but he didn't want to. That is the reason why he was not travelling with us yesterday."

However, the Frenchman took to social media to deny the allegations, claiming he would "never disrespect the fans".

Martial wrote on his Instagram story: "I will never refuse to play a match for Man United. I've been here for 7 years and I never disrespected and will never disrespect the club and the fans."

Bruno Fernandes gave the Red Devils the lead against Villa only for them to throw it away with 13 minutes left as on-loan Barcelona man Philippe Coutinho scored on his debut.

Reflecting on the result, Rangnick told Sky Sports: "It is very difficult to find positives after this, we have spells where i thought it was our best game since I have come here. We were completely dominant.

"We have taken steps forward, but there are still many things we need to improve on. The plan was to press them in the mid-zone, and we did that for the first 30 mins, they were some of the positives. We have two more important games coming up, what we have shown today is a step forwards, this draw doesn't feel like a point."