Marcus Rashford has his heart set on a loan move to Barcelona before Monday’s transfer deadline but a deal will go through only if the Catalan club can offload up to two players.
Rashford has rejected offers from several other clubs including Tottenham because of his determination to join Barcelona. Under La Liga’s squad cost limit rules Barcelona will have to generate funds to be able to spend the money required to sign Rashford from Manchester United. They are prepared in principle to cover most or all of Rashford’s £375,000-a-week salary (€449,000).
With less than four full days until the window shuts at 11pm on Monday, Rashford and United face the prospect of a player out of favour under Ruben Amorim staying at the club unless Barcelona can secure the exit of one or two players. Although Rashford and Amorim have accepted he may remain for the rest of the season, a move away is wanted by all parties.
If Rashford departs, United would be interested in bringing in the versatile Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel, who is also a target for Spurs and Aston Villa.
Before Thursday’s 2-0 Europa League win over Steaua in Bucharest, Amorim indicated there may be a route back into his first-team plans for Rashford should the forward stay.
“You can look at our team and imagine the profile of the players,” the head coach said. “Now imagine a talent like Rashford. Our team should be so much better with Rashford. But he has to change. If he changes, we are more than welcome to put in a talent like Rashford. And we need it.”
Amorim has not selected Rashford since United’s 2-1 win at Viktoria Plzen on December 12th, citing “training reasons”. Two days after being dropped Rashford said he wanted a “new challenge” and he has since been in only one match-day squad, for the 2-0 defeat against Newcastle on December 30th.
United are close to sealing a deal to sign the Lecce full-back Patrick Dorgu for about €30m. - Guardian
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