Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford could reportedly be the subject of a stunning £100 million bid from La Liga champions Barcelona.
According to a report from the Daily Mirror, reigning La Liga champions Barcelona are hoping to snap up Manchester United star striker Marcus Rashford in the summer and are willing to offer £100 million for his services.
Rashford, 21, has become one of the most coveted young forwards across Europe, since bursting onto the scenes in 2015-16 under then manager Louis van Gaal. The Manchester United academy graduate has already gone on to accumulate 164 first-team appearances, scoring 45 goals in the process and setting up 26 more.
In the ongoing campaign, Rashford has come up with returns of 13 goals and 9 assists from 41 matches in all competitions, establishing himself as a key component of the team under manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. However, his long-term future has been a subject of speculations of late, owing to his contract situation.
Rashford will be entering the final year of his current deal with Manchester United at the end of the season. The Red Devils have the option of extending by another twelve months, but that has not stopped clubs across Europe from keeping a keen eye on his situation.
Negotiations over a new contract have been going on for a while now, but the two parties haven’t been able to arrive at an agreement as of yet. Recent reports did claim that Rashford is set to put pen to a new five-year contract, that will see him take home wages of £300,000-a-week. However, that seems to have not deterred Barcelona, who have made him their primary transfer target.
Barcelona are keen on bolstering their attacking options ahead of the next season as they seek to put a long-term succession plan in place for star striker Luis Suarez, who has shown signs of slowing down this season. To that end, they have been linked with a move for the 21-year-old Rashford.
Eintracht Frankfurt’s Luka Jovic was also an option, but with the Serbian’s father recently claiming that the forward is not interested in a switch, the Catalans seem to have narrowed down on the Manchester United striker now and are set to act on the interest by coming up with an offer of £100 million.
In order for that to happen though, Ernesto Valverde’s men might have to offload someone from their current roster in the summer, with former Liverpool man Philippe Coutinho emerging as the most likely candidate to be shown the exit doors from Camp Nou.
Manchester United have no interest in losing Rashford and will do everything in their power to ensure that his long-term future at Old Trafford is secured. However, if they fail to resolve his contract situation at the earliest, it will leave them exposed to overtures from interested parties, such as Barcelona. It will be interesting to see how this story develops in the coming months.
