Barcelona have sounded out Manchester United to discuss a January loan move for wantaway forward Marcus Rashford, according to reports.
FootballTransfers have claimed that the Blaugrana have “made contact” with United regarding a half-season loan with an option to buy the 27-year-old in the summer.
The La Liga giants put forward a fee of £35m, and the report claims that United “did not immediately respond” to the approach but that “Rashford has been made aware of the interest and is keen on the move.”
Rashford’s open admission that he is ready for a new challenge “piqued the interest” of the La Liga giants, who have “admired” the player “for some time”.
The report notes that the club’s president Joan Laporta is “keen to pounce on any available market opportunity”, and following his exclusion from the squad for the Manchester derby, Rashford may present exactly that.
Manager Ruben Amorim was keen to point out that Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho were not included in the derby day squad for purely tactical reasons.
But that did little to halt speculation over the Englishman’s future at Old Trafford, which went into overdrive following an interview in which he stated “for me, personally, I think I’m ready for a new challenge and the next steps.”
Rashford has spent his entire career at United, having graduated from Carrington to make 426 senior appearances, scoring 138 goals and assisting 63.
He is the definition of a one-club man but according to FootballTransfers this counts for little as the club looks to rebuild its squad.
“Despite a sentimental attachment between Rashford and the club, Man Utd are determined to offload the winger in a bid to balance the books and revamp the team in collaboration with Amorim.”
The move therefore would suit all parties, however it seems unlikely to go through precisely because of the finances involved. Rashford is one of the club’s top earners, receiving north of £300,000 a week, a figure few clubs could match.
Getting this off the books would be a big win for the Red Devils, who would secure ‘pure profit’ from Rashford’s sale given that he came through the academy.
United are therefore “willing to make concessions in the form of a cut-price deal to facilitate a transfer”, but understand that his wages “could prove a major stumbling block.”
Indeed, Barcelona are one of the last clubs to depend on for robust finances – they “currently look unlikely” to get summer signing Dani Olmo registered before the 31 December deadline, so bringing in Rashford or anyone else would require a lot of number-crunching.
Feature image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
