Man Utd take huge financial hit on Marcus Rashford after dropping asking price twice

Manchester United’s desperation to get Marcus Rashford off their wage bill has seen them dramatically drop their valuation of the striker. Rashford is poised to join Barcelona on a season-long loan with an option to buy after being frozen out by Ruben Amorim at United.

Amorim’s relationship with Rashford broke down in December when he was ejected from the United first-team squad. He was then sent out on loan to Aston Villa in January, and having resurrected his career with four goals and six assists in 17 appearances, Rashford set his sights on Barca.

The 27-year-old rejected a mega-money move to Saudi Arabia and has been waiting patiently for Barca and United to come to terms over a move. That has now happened and Rashford flew into the city earlier this week to complete the final stages of his move.

Barcelona have agreed to take Rashford on loan for the 2025/26 season with an option to make it permanent. Barca will pay the entirety of his wages after Rashford agreed to take a 15 per cent pay cut from his £325,000-a-week wages. They can also sign him for €30million (£26m).

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Earlier this summer, United made it clear that they would happily sell Rashford to whichever club would stump up £40m. His contract with the club runs until June 2028, so their asking price wasn’t outrageous, especially considering they believed he was worth £100m in April 2024 when Paris Saint-Germain were sniffing around.

United’s rapidly sliding scale around Rashford just demonstrates the sourness around the forward since Amorim made up his mind. The England striker has been part of Amorim’s so-called ‘bomb squad’ over the past few weeks, forced to train separately from the first team at Carrington.

Rashford and fellow unwanted players Jadon Sancho, Antony, Alejandro Garnacho and Tyrell Malacia have been arriving at the training ground post-5pm, when everyone else has already left. It is a brutal policy that doesn’t have universal support inside the building but is designed to speed up their exits.

It may have played a part in securing Rashford’s exit, while Sancho is also poised to leave for Juventus. But what is more likely to have done the trick is United’s desperation to offload their high-earning players who Amorim had made clear have no future at the club.

Rashford was not Barcelona’s first choice this summer. The Catalan giants had tried to sign Nico Williams from Athletic Club, but the move fell through. They also showed an interest in Liverpool winger Luis Diaz, but were put off by the Reds’ transfer stance.

“I don’t want to speak about players which are not in my team, but of course Luis Diaz and Marcus Rashford are fantastic players,” manager Hansi Flick said earlier in the summer. “I like them and we’ll see what happens.”

Rashford will not be a guaranteed starter, either. He can play on the left of Barca’s 4-3-3 formation, but will be aware that Raphinha has just enjoyed an incredible campaign in that position, while he will be a mere back-up to Robert Lewandowski at centre-forward.

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