Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim has suggested that Barcelona could use one player if they wanted to reduce their asking price for Marcus Rashford, according to reports.
The Red Devils have made just one major signing in the summer transfer window so far with Matheus Cunha arriving from Wolves in a deal worth £62.5m, while Paraguayan youngster Diego Leon has also joined from Cerro Porteno.
A deal for Bryan Mbeumo is proving trickier than Man Utd would have hoped with co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe refusing to reach the £70m that Brentford want to allow the Cameroon international to leave.
And now Man Utd are looking to accelerate some exits from the club with Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, Antony and Jadon Sancho among the players the Red Devils are looking to offload this summer.
Rashford is attracting a lot of interest this summer but many of his admirers have been put off by the £40m fee plus the huge wages he is currently on at Man Utd.
And reports in Spain claim that talks between Man Utd and Barcelona ‘remain at a standstill’ over a permanent transfer for Rashford – but ‘a new element has appeared on the table in recent hours, causing surprise and immediate rejection from the Catalan club’.
READ: Mediawatch: Brentford ‘U-turn’ on Mbeumo as three Man United transfers solve everything
Man Utd boss Amorim ‘has suggested Fermin Lopez as a possible bargaining chip in the deal, something Barca has categorically ruled out’.
Amorim has given the ‘green light’ for Rashford to leave but he ‘not willing to accept a loan, which is the option Barca is proposing due to their financial constraints’.
The report adds: ‘As things stand, Fermin’s inclusion in the conversation has been seen as a non-negotiable red line , further complicating an already seemingly difficult deal. The message from Barcelona is clear: Rashford yes, but not at any price, and much less if it means losing a jewel of the club like Fermin Lopez .’
Man Utd legend Teddy Sheringham doesn’t think Rashford deserves a move to Barcelona after failing to perform for the Red Devils in recent times.
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Sheringham told Sky Bet: “If you assess where Marcus Rashford is at as a professional footballer, you strive as a youngster to get to the very top and play for clubs like Manchester United, and when you’re there, you appreciate it. You don’t throw it away and say you want to leave.
“I find the whole episode very soul-destroying, compared to the way I was back in the day and how I strove to get the privilege to play for such a huge football club.
“To hear someone talking the way he is talking, saying he wants out – I didn’t like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang doing that at Arsenal, I thought it was soul-destroying, and I hope Rashford doesn’t get the move that he’s hankering for. From my perspective, if you go from Manchester United to Barcelona, that’s a step up that he hasn’t deserved.”
On the need to sell before Man Utd can buy, Sheringham added: “Manchester United did a lot of business at the start of the window – they got Matheus Cunha in and there was also talk about Bryan Mbeumo joining from Brentford. It was an exciting time, and it sounded like they’d have a right go this summer, but then it stagnated.
“This stagnation has probably got a lot to do with the players that need to get out of the door this summer. When you’re trying to get players out of your football club that don’t want to be there, that’s probably one of the hardest parts of management, especially when they are on big money.
“There is a lot of money they need to get off the wage bill before they start buying more players. The owners probably thought it would be easier to offload these players to other clubs, but they’re finding it hard – that’s the problem.”
