Manchester United are finally edging closer towards the exit of Marcus Rashford after Barcelona cleared the path for his signing by opening talks for the sale of one of their most promising young stars – while the player himself has also offered a quick-fire response to Ruben Amorim’s brutal destruction of him on Sunday.
The 27-year-old has been headline news at Old Trafford ever since Amorim decided to drop him from his matchday squad that claimed a famous victory at their neighbours Manchester City on December 15 – and a revelation from the player just days later that he felt he needed to now leave Manchester United for the good of his career.
However, finding a new home for the 60-times capped England star has proved far harder than initially expected, with United’s demands over a deal, coupled with the player’s enormous wages, proving problematic for some of his suitors.
Indeed, Rashford‘s brother and agent Dwaine Maynard has held talks with several big-name sides, with AC Milan, Juventus, Marseille, Monaco and Borussia Dortmund all holding negotiations over a prospective deal.
The player though has always made clear he wants to ideally move to LaLiga next and reports last week that Maynard had held talks with Barcelona sporting director Deco opened the door to a possible dream transfer.
That said, the Blaugrana are handicapped with some well-documented financial issues and have had to get creative with their finances to help facilitate a move.
Now, though, according to Sport, Barca have taken a significant step towards financing Rashford’s signing by closing in on a deal to sell 20-year-old midfielder Unai Hernandez to Al-Ittihad.
The La Masia graduate, described by Football Espana as one of their ‘most technically gifted and versatile attackers’, is now on the cusp of finalising the transfer to Saudi Arabia, and having green-lit the move, is expected to sign a lucrative deal there in the coming days.
And his sale, expected to raise around €5m (£4.2m, $5.1m), will give Barca the chance to ‘unlock’ the capture of Rashford, having already agreed to meet 50% of his wages on a loan deal until the end of the season.
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Barcelona confident of Rashford deal as star responds to Amorim trolling
Barcelona are still to agree on the exact terms of the deal and our sources – who revealed way back in the autumn that United were pushing to offload Rashford in 2025 – continue to insist that club officials at United are still insistent on ensuring any loan deal for Rashford contains a mandatory purchase option.
As it stands, Barcelona would prefer to include an option to make it permanent as they gauge how the attacker performs in Spain and adjust to a new lifestyle and brand of football.
However, with United determined to move the player on, even in just a temporary capacity, there appears optimism from a Barcelona end that a compromise from the Red Devils will be met as they look to move on a player who Sir Jim Ratcliffe has already decided does not fit in with what The Times’ describes as their ‘cultural reboot’.
What is also evidently clear is that manager Ruben Amorim sees no way back for Rashford at Old Trafford.
Having maintained something of a series of diplomatic answers when questioned about Rashford’s ongoing omission from the United matchday squad, Amorim appeared to finally lose his rag at the situation on Sunday when he finally revealed his true feelings on the player and sensationally revealed he would rather pick the club’s 63-year-old goalkeeper coach on the bench.
Speaking after United laboured their way to a 1-0 win at Fulham on Sunday evening, Amorim was asked again about the player’s absence.
“It is always the same reason,” Amorim replied.
When probed as to what that reason is, he replied: “The reason is the training. The reason is what I think a footballer should do in training [and] in life. If things do not change, I will not change.
“It is the same situation for every player. If you do the maximum and do the right things, we can use every player.
“And you can see today on the bench, we missed a bit of pace to go, to change the game. I will put [Jorge] Vital [goalkeeping coach, on the pitch] before I put a player that does not give the maximum. I will not change in that department.”
Choosing to ignore those comments and refusing to add fuel to the fire, Rashford took to Instagram to send a five-word message to his teammates following their 1-0 success at Craven Cottage.
“Congratulations on the win lads,” he simply wrote.
Man Utd transfer latest: Dorgu hopes grow; Casemiro sale closer
Meanwhile, United are growing increasingly hopeful that a deal for Patrick Dorgu can be done before the window shuts amid claims a third offer is in the pipeline and that his side Lecce are ready to compromise over their demands for the Denmark international.
Dorgu, who can also play as an inverted right-winger, is Amorim’s top target to fulfil their long-standing left wing-back issues and with Fabrizio Romano providing a sizeable update on how United can now get a deal over the line.
Elsewhere, Casemiro’s time at Old Trafford looks set to draw to a close in the next week with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reportedly ‘pushing hard’ to bring the Brazilian to Besiktas and with the Red Devils prepared to dramatically slash his asking price to help facilitate his sale.
The 32-year-old has not played a single minute of football for United this calendar year and has now dropped behind 21-year-old Toby Collyer in Amorim’s pecking order.
One player United have successfully managed to move on this window is teenage striker Ethan Wheatley, who has agreed a move down to League Two where he will spend the rest of the season with a promotion-chasing side.
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Dream transfer finally ‘unlocked’ as Barcelona sacrifice ‘gifted’ star to clear path for Man Utd swoop
