Reports suggest Barcelona could be forced to let go of decisive attacker

It seems that Barcelona have got a fight on their hands if they want to keep hold of Marcus Rashford next season.

According to a report from ESPN, "Manchester United have no plans to re-negotiate the terms of Marcus Rashford‘s potential permanent move to Barcelona," meaning that any sale of the player would involve a payment of the full fee already negotiated.

At present, the forward is only playing for Barcelona on loan from the Salford club, and a negotiation to remain permanently in Spain appears to be dependent on the LaLiga side hunting down the back of sofa for anything between €30 million and €35m ($35-40m). He has a contract with Manchester United that runs until 2028.

Despite the lack of security regarding his future, that has not stopped Rashford from fully immersing himself in Catalan culture and that of FC Barcelona. All the noises coming from Spain’s east coast suggest that the 28-year-old is keen on remaining there instead of England’s north-west - one does not have to think hard to understand why.

Across the 2025-26 campaign he has played a total of 34 games across 4 competitions, scoring 10 goals and providing 13 assists. It may sound patronising but given the recent financial situation of the club, despite ‘levers’ and potential workarounds, Rashford, as they say in Spain, ha cumplido: he’s done everything he was asked to do. So far this season, Rashford has played the role of the first substitute for any absence of either Lamine Yamal or Raphinha, not what we perhaps expected when the ‘centre-forward’ signed.

ESPN, in their report, say that Carrick “has thought about bringing Rashford back” yet, rather unhelpfully from a speculative point of view, he “has not informed club bosses of a wish to explore the possibility of a return at the end of the season,” leaving the door open for anything to happen.

Manchester United sit in fourth place in the Premier League at the time of writing after a string of positive results under new manager Michael Carrick, who replaced Rúben Amorim after the Portuguese coach was sacked earlier in the season. Barcelona are second in the Spanish top division, just two points behind Real Madrid who kept their place at the top thanks to the blaugrana’s recent loss away to Girona.