Marcus Rashford next club odds: Barcelona favourites to land Man Utd exile

Imago

Marcus Rashford looks increasingly likely to depart Manchester United, having not featured in a matchday squad for more than six weeks.

His absence comes after the England forward said he was ready for a new challenge, and as manager Ruben Amorim has now said he would rather play his 63-year-old goalkeeping coach “before a player who doesn’t give the maximum every day," it looks like the writing is on the wall for Rashford.

It had been reported that AC Milan were interested in signing the forward, but an immediate move has been prevented by the Italian club’s loan signing of Kyle Walker from Manchester City. League rules mean the club were only able to sign one non-EU player in the January transfer window.

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With AC Milan out of the picture for now, Spanish giants Barcelona have become the favourites to secure Rashford’s services. According to BetMGM, Rashford is now more likely to be at Barcelona by the end of the summer transfer window (6/4), than at United (2/1). 

However, Barcelona have well-publicised budgetary issues at the moment. Rashford signed a new deal with the Red Devils in 2023, putting him on more than £300,000 a week. The Catalan club are unlikely to be able to afford those wages this month. 

Other clubs that are being listed as possible destinations include Borussia Dortmund at 3/1 and Juventus at 16/1.

Rashford joined the United academy when he was just seven years old. He made his debut in a Europa League tie against Midtjylland in 2016, scoring twice in the second half and helping United to a 5-1 win, and has gone on to play a total of 426 games and score 138 goals for the senior team. 

But, he has struggled to consistently reach his highest level. Rashford’s best season was in 2022/23 when he scored 30 goals in all competitions. He picked up the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award in the process. However, the following season was a disappointing one. He scored eight goals in 42 appearances across all competitions, as United toiled under Erik ten Hag. 

This season, Rashford has made just 24 appearances and scored seven goals. Shortly after Amorim was appointed, he was exiled from first-team duty. Since playing against Viktoria Plzen in the Portuguese manager's sixth game in charge, he has not featured. In the 11 matches since, he was an unused substitute against Newcastle at the end of December, but has not been in the squad otherwise. 

His lack of game time coincided with the player publicly stating he was looking for a fresh challenge away from Old Trafford. As well as declaring his desire to leave the club, Amorim has been unimpressed with the player’s commitment to training, calling him out in a post-match press conference.

Following Sunday's match at Fulham, when Rashford was once again left out of the matchday squad, reporters pressed the Portuguese manager for the reason. He said the decision came down to poor effort in training, saying that the striker does not give his maximum. The coach went on to say that even though the club lacks pace on the bench, he would “put [goalkeeping coach Jorge] Vital before a player who doesn’t give the maximum every day.” 

Odds via BetMGM and were correct at the time of writing.