With Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS group able to dictate what Man United do in the transfer window this summer, it will be interesting to see in which direction they take the Old Trafford outfit.
There are a number of players out on loan whose futures will need to be decided, Sir Jim and Sir Dave Brailsford need to decide if Erik ten Hag is the man to take the club forward and plenty more besides.
Football finance expert, Kieran Maguire, has even touted the sale of one academy product being the answer to United’s Financial Fair Play prayers.
“If Marcus Rashford was sold, then it would solve all issues that Manchester United face in respect of Financial Fair Play,” he said to Football Insider regarding the reported Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain target.
“First of all, realistically, they’ll be looking for around about £100million plus in terms of a transfer fee. That would represent pure profit on their accounts as he’s an academy player.
“Secondly, he is costing the club around £15million a year in wages, so removing that would be beneficial to their wage bill.
“You put those two together, and it would mean they could become very competitive in the transfer market.“
Given how woefully off form Rashford has been throughout the 2023/24 campaign – WhoScored note he has just five goals and two assists to his name in the Premier League – and not forgetting the embarrassment the player heaped on the club with a recent drinks bender in Belfast, it might be the right time to cash in on the England international.
United’s decision makers won’t be making any rash changes, but Rashford will certainly need to clean up his act and start finding the net in the last 15 games of the season if he doesn’t want to become a transfer discussion point in the summer.