According to exclusive news from the Telegraph, the Man United board has intended to sell Marcus Rashford from the summer of 2024. After a brilliant end to the 2022-2023 season, the English striker has returned to his original harmless image. In the process of purifying and streamlining the force, INEOS does not want to keep anyone who is no longer useful.
The reason why Man United wants to sell Rashford early is because, in addition to his declining performance on the field, the 27-year-old striker is also said to have an inappropriate lifestyle. The "Red Devils" are afraid that Rashford is no longer interested in playing football and is gradually losing his passion for the job.
Rashford was fined two weeks' wages in January this year after he was caught drinking heavily on a night out in Belfast. Shortly after the discovery, he was dropped from the squad for United's FA Cup win away to Newport County. He was also left out of the squad for the Boxing Day win over Wolves in 2022 under Erik ten Hag.
When Ruben Amorim arrived, Rashford had the chance to prove his ability again. He scored 3 goals in 5 matches under the new Portuguese captain. However, the superficiality in the recent defeats has repeated the disappointing image of the past time. Currently, Rashford is the highest paid player at Man United, so the sooner this expense can be cut, the easier it will be for INEOS.
Rashford leaving in January is a rather unrealistic prospect, given his current salary of £325,000 a week. Even if he were to move within Europe, the summer of 2025 would not be a good time, as all clubs are tightening their purse strings. Therefore, Saudi Arabia could be an option. If he wants to stay in Europe, Rashford can only negotiate with PSG, a team that has wanted him for the past few years.
INEOS will not be offering Ruben Amorim the same amount of money as Ten Hag, so if the Portuguese wants to sign players, with the likes of Viktor Gyokeres in the immediate future, the club will have to offload some players. With a pre-tax loss of £312.9m over the past three seasons, United are under huge pressure to cut costs, although selling Rashford would help the club reinvest.
Currently, Ruben Amorim and Marcus Rashford have not made any official statements about this. If the English striker does not improve his performance and plays less in the upcoming winter transfer period, Man United fans should consider hanging up this striker's shirt in the souvenir display cabinet.
