Marcus Rashford is attracting the attention of a major European heavyweight in an explosive development described as “bad news” for Barcelona, according to a report from Spain.
A season-long loan at Camp Nou
Rashford, 27, is currently in Catalonia after joining Barcelona on a season-long loan from Manchester United in the summer.
The English forward had a public fallout with Ruben Amorim in December last year with INEOS fully backing their head coach over the dispute.
A hastily-agreed loan to Aston Villa was agreed in the January transfer window – a temporary pause to an uncomfortable situation – as the academy graduate then returned to Old Trafford at the end of last season.
There was no intention from Amorim or the club’s hierarchy to reintegrate Rashford, however, who was instead keen to complete a “dream move” to Barcelona. But the LaLiga champions were acutely aware of this desire and leveraged it to agree a loan deal, rather than the permanent exit INEOS had hoped to strike for the club’s most expensively paid star.
Rashford has enjoyed a resurgence at Camp Nou under Hansi Flick after a quiet start, scoring a stunning double in the Champions League win against Newcastle United at St James’ Park last week.
He followed this up with an assist against Getafe on the weekend in the league, but was only brought on at half-time after being dropped by Flick for being late to training. A slip-up which will have come as little surprise to a certain Portuguese coach in Manchester.
Barcelona and their manager are believed to be happy with their new English star, however, and reports suggest the Blaugrana may seek to trigger the buy option in the loan deal with United, believed to be worth £26 million.
However, the Spanish giant may now be sweating after a fellow European heavyweight reportedly threw their hat into the ring for Rashford – and are willing to offer the Red Devils a better price on their wantaway star.
Interest from Paris
TEAMtalk relays a report from a Catalonian news outlet which reveals Paris-Saint Germain are “willing to offer” €45 million (£39m) for Rashford.
The report states Luis Enrique, crowned the best coach in world football last night, is “personally keen on a deal” and is pushing for his bosses to sanction a blockbuster raid.
TEAMtalk describes this as “bad news” for Barcelona as the pull of playing for the reigning European champions means Rashford “could be convinced to move to PSG” in a dramatic twist.
The attraction of playing under a coach like Enrique, who has overseen the transformation of Ousmane Dembele from an inconsistent winger to a Ballon d’Or winning forward, would also likely be appealing to Rashford – a player who has suffered similar issues throughout his career.
PSG have a long-standing interest in the England international with L’Equipe reporting the Ligue 1 club wanted to strike a deal with United in 2022.
The French newspaper reveals this was then revisited in the summer, though there has been no confirmation on this from other sources.
But the fact remains that Rashford considers Camp Nou his ideal destination and he was adamant on completing a move in the summer. Barcelona also possess the option to make the loan move permanent at a price already agreed with his parent club, United, meaning they hold all the cards at the end of the season.
The only way a switch to Paris could seemingly become a reality is if Rashford himself reneged on his intention to join Barcelona – and the forward would be overruling a childhood dream to do so. In other words, PSG should keep looking.
Featured image Paul Miller via Getty Images
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Darragh Fox
Darragh is a writer for The Peoples Person who spent three years as a history graduate slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about.
