By Samuel A. February 2, 2025
Aston Villa have reportedly agreed a loan deal with Manchester United for Marcus Rashford. The loan comes with an option to buy this summer for £40m, and Villa will cover 70% of the salary. It was reported that Villa made the move as a result of the sale of Jhon Duran to Al Nassr. Unai Emery’s side have also brought in Paris Saint-Germain’s Marcos Asensio, and are still interested in Chelsea’s Joao Felix, as confirmed by Villa’s president of football operations Monchi.
Speaking after Villa’s 2-0 defeat at Wolves on Saturday evening, Emery said his side continue to work on “different players” in the transfer window. “To sign one striker is not easy. We have some players. Usually Watkins is being consistent, playing matches, recovering strong and playing matches in a row, two or three matches. But he got injured. Hopefully, it is small. “The idea is if we can replace Jhon Duran with a striker, a potential player who can help us with the level we want, we will do. If not, we can use versatile players like Donyell Malen.”
The England international last month revealed he was “ready for a new challenge”, but few clubs offer an obvious landing spot thanks in no small part to his wages. Rashford was left out of United’s 21-man squad for Thursday’s Europa League win at FCSB despite the forward training with his teammates on the eve of the match, making it about the sixth week since he was last in the squad. Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim suggested last weekend after the 1-0 win at Fulham he would currently rather have United’s 63-year-old goalkeeping coach in his squad than Rashford.
There have also been reports this week that Amorim and Rashford were no longer on speaking terms. Amorim had left the door open for Rashford to fight his way back into first-team contention, saying United are “a better team with Rashford” but he ” has to change” before he could force his way back into the first-team reckoning, but it seemed the England international already got his mind made up.
