Marcus Rashford has reported to England’s World Cup camp with the clock ticking down on his dream of a permanent move to Barcelona.
Rashford has been training at Inter Miami before joining up with his team-mates at England’s pre-tournament base in Palm Beach ahead of the warm-up games against New Zealand in Tampa on Saturday and Costa Rica in Orlando a week on Wednesday.
By the time Thomas Tuchel’s side kick off their Group L campaign against Croatia in Arlington, Texas, the June 15 deadline will have expired for Barcelona to trigger an option in Rashford’s loan deal at the Nou Camp this season allowing them to buy him for £26million.
United have steadfastly refused to budge on that figure, while Barca would only be willing to pay half the price.
A deal for Rashford appears to be on the backburner after the La Liga champions signed his England team-mate Antony Gordon from Newcastle for £69.3m last week.
Barca have also made an offer to sign Bernardo Silva on a free transfer from Manchester City, and are ready to pay Atletico Madrid in excess of £100m for Julian Alvarez to replace Robert Lewandowski at centre-forward.
The Catalans, who have a number of other attacking options including Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Ferran Torres and Fermin Lopez, could delay making an offer for Rashford until after June 15 and may propose taking him on loan for another season.
The player would prefer to return to the Nou Camp, but United will be free to do business with other clubs and Barca run the risk of his value increasing if he has a good World Cup.
The futures of Marcus Rashford and Andre Onana are yet to be resolved after loan spells
Arsenal, Tottenham and Aston Villa, who had Rashford on loan for the second half of last season, are believed to have an interest in bringing him back to the Premier League.
Real Madrid, soon to be managed by former United boss Jose Mourinho, Bayern Munich and Chelsea may emerge as other options.
Rashford’s £315,000-a-week wages and age – he will turn 29 in October – are not in his favour. He might have to take a pay-cut or negotiate a pay-off with United to secure a permanent move away from Old Trafford, having last played for his boyhood club in December 2024.
If United cannot find Rashford a new club before he is due to start pre-season training after the World Cup, then he will return to Carrington. Last summer, the player was part of a ‘bomb squad’ that also included Alejandro Garnacho, Jadon Sancho, Antony and Tyrell Malacia, although it’s unclear how United would handle the situation again.
It would appear to be in the best interests of both parties to avoid that scenario even though, ironically, United are in the market for a left winger.
Goalkeeper Andre Onana finds himself in a similar position after a season on loan at Trabzonspor which ended with him helping the club to win the Turkish Cup.
Onana has no future at United after being replaced by Senne Lammens, who was voted as the Premier League’s signing of the season on Monday, but is ready to return for pre-season next month if his future is unresolved.
Trabzonspor would like to keep him and another loan is a possibility. United would prefer a sale but are unlikely to get any more than half of the £47.2m Onana cost from Inter Milan after quoting Monaco £30m for him last summer.
