Aston Villa confirm they’re not activating £40m buy option clause for Marcus Rashford.

Rashford returns to Manchester United… and £40m price remains available for any club interested in According to reports, FC Barcelona have made a significant decision on Manchester United star Marcus Rashford as they are ‘keen on a loan deal

The Spanish giants encountered registration issues with Pau Victor and Dani Olmo earlier this year. The Catalans were granted temporary licenses to register the duo last summer but those registrations were then revoked in January after La Liga accused Barcelona of failing to prove they were compliant with the league’s financial rules by their deadline of 31 December.

Amid Barcelona’s public courting of Williams this summer, Athletic sought a meeting with La Liga for clarity over Barcelona’s current position and have now released a statement following the talks.

Rashford has not gone close to replicating the form that he displayed a couple of seasons ago, which saw him score 30 goals. However, his return of seven goals and three assists in 24 matches cannot be termed as categorically bad.

But what exactly is the best out of Marcus Rashford? His raw numbers over the past four years — 43 goals and 27 assists — put him in some pretty good company. And his production for United in the Premier League has been remarkably consistent, but not necessarily in a good way.

When the coronavirus pandemic took hold of the UK Marcus Rashford stepped up big time, raising millions in donations by partnering with food charity FareShare – an organisation dedicated to relieving food poverty and reducing food waste in the UK. The footballer also launched a poetry competition for deaf children, has been learning sign language and has utilised his huge social media presence to speak out on issues of racial inequality since the killing of George Floyd. 

The England and Manchester United forward almost single-handedly forced his country’s Prime Minister and government to reverse a policy and fund more than USD 550 million towards supporting the cost of food and household bills of struggling families from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Ruben Amorim wants to offload Rashford before July, as part of a triple move to sell him alongside Jadon Sancho and Antony, but the Portuguese coach may be forced to play the long game over all three of his unwanted attackers.

“I’ve had to choose somewhere where I feel my style of football is suited to, and can help them and help me rediscover and improve as a player,” Rashford said. “Obviously it’s only short-term I’m here so I want to make the most of my time here and the only way to do that is by using my attributes and my skill set to help the team.

Rashford will depart the club alongside Marco Asensio and Axel Disasi, who also joined Unai Emery’s side on loan in February and helped them to the quarter-finals of the Champions League as well as an FA Cup semi-final while qualifying for the Europa League next season.

Asensio scored vital goals both domestically and in Europe, including three in the two legs of the Champions League win over Club Brugge, but Villa also confirmed he will go back to Paris St Germain. Disasi made 10 appearances after his temporary move from Chelsea.

Unai Emery’s side had an option to make the deal permanent for £40million but have now confirmed that the option has not been triggered and Rashford will return to Manchester United.

Newcastle have generally steered clear of loan deals in recent seasons, given their negative impact on PSR calculations. Newcastle’s first and only loan signing completed since the takeover saw Matt Targett join from Aston Villa in January 2022.

But unlike Newcastle’s other transfer targets, Rashford brings a strong goalscoring pedigree on the international and European stage. In 426 games for Manchester United, Rashford has scored 138 goals, including a 30 goal campaign during the 2022/23 season.

But even in the unlikely scenario that Rashford joined Newcastle, he would not be guaranteed regular starts at Newcastle with Alexander Isak and Gordon set to be favoured ahead of him.

This led to Rashford going out on loan to Aston Villa for the second half of last season, but he’s now expected to move on to a different club again As has been widely reported, CaughtOffside understands that Rashford’s preference is for a move to Barcelona, but it remains to be seen if he’ll be a priority for the Catalan giants.

Tottenham are another Premier League side showing an interest, while the 27-year-old is also on the radar of Serie A giants AC Milan, Juventus and Napoli, as well as La Liga duo Atletico Madrid and Real Betis, plus Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.

Tottenham are another Premier League side showing an interest, while the 27-year-old is also on the radar of Serie A giants AC Milan, Juventus and Napoli, as well as La Liga duo Atletico Madrid and Real Betis, plus Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.

Sources have told ESPN that head coach Ruben Amorim has not made a decision about whether Rashford, Antony, Garnacho and Sancho will be part of his squad for the summer tour of the United States.

He’s not being remotely considered by Newcastle United. His output is minimal on the pitch and has been for years, he’s a loner and won’t fit in to the Newcastle United mold, MU made a huge mistake giving him big wages, but they’ve been a shambles for a while. Not better than Gordon or Barnes either, he might have been once, but those days have long gone.