Uncovering Manchester United's Grim Truth About Marcus Rashford as the End Looms: Analysis

Red Devils head coach Ruben Amorim will require the support of the remaining Man United hierarchy in order to begin assembling the team he deems necessary to elevate the club's fortunes. However, they will need to navigate the constraints of the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules (PSR) if they wish to make significant investments in the upcoming January transfer window.

Why would Man Utd sell Marcus Rashford?

It’s understood Man United face a battle to balance their books under PSR after racking up losses of £300m over the last three years before taking on the extra cost of sacking Erik ten Hag and bringing in Amorim to replace him.

That creates a need to sell before they buy. Rashford is a homegrown player and therefore accounted for as pure profit in United’s PSR records. With his form patchy and his salary weighty, he’s emerged as the obvious candidate – but Man United are reportedly not confident they’ll find a buyer.

Manchester-born Rashford has been at Man United since the age of seven and is approaching 300 Premier League appearances for his boyhood club. In that time he’s won the FA Cup twice and the Europa League, picked up 60 international caps for England and become a sociopolitical heavyweight.

He remains a regular starter and most of his underlying attacking statistics this season are marginally improved on 2023-24 but below their peak in 2022-23, when Man United finished third in the Premier League. His percentage of shots on target is currently higher than ever.

But with the club’s more saleable players also being indispensable, Rashford is thought to be one of many others they’d consider moving on for the right bid. Selling Kobbie Mainoo is unthinkable. Rashford’s no longer in the same category.

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Rashford’s contract runs until the end of June 2028 and United are thought to be keen to act quickly to ensure his eventual departure makes a big impact on their PSR bottom line.

The players linked with joining Amorim’s Old Trafford revolution include Cerro Porteno teenager Diego Leon, Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies, Lecce defender Patrick Dorgu and the experienced Austrian midfielder Konrad Laimer.

In FourFourTwo’s opinion, that combination of youth and experience would be a solid starting point for Amorim’s new-look Man United.

The right signing for the leadership role, for which Laimer has been identified, is an important first step and replacing Rashford with an exciting young forward would be no bad way to unlock the possibility.