soccer

Marcus Rashford - what does future hold for Barcelona's England striker?

BBC Sport

Rashford is a Manchester United player. He has a contract that runs to 30 June 2028. When Casemiro's contract expires on 30 June this year, he will be the club's highest earner, with his salary benefiting from the restoration of the 25% that had been taken off because of last season's failure to qualify for the Champions League.

His loan deal with Barcelona includes an option to make the transfer permanent for €30m (£25. 94m) if it is triggered by 15 June. That is the easy bit.

From there it starts to get complicated. On the face of it, making the deal permanent makes sense for all parties. Rashford has done pretty well; 14 goals and 14 assists in 47 appearances.

It was enough to earn him an England recall from Thomas Tuchel and, in all probability, a spot in the final 26-man World Cup squad. He enjoys playing for Barcelona and would like to stay. While Barca have other targets this summer, they would be signing a player for well under market value.

Manchester United meanwhile would be washing their hands of someone who was in Ruben Amorim's 'bomb squad' last summer. However, Barcelona are apparently unwilling to execute the transfer and are trying to renegotiate, potentially to sign Rashford next season on another loan deal. United have indicated they are not prepared to do that.