Marcus Rashford
Marcus Rashford did not follow the advice of the transfer rulebook – do not say you want to leave
If this is to be the beginning of the end for Marcus Rashford and Manchester United, then history will record that it was the player who blinked first in what could be some very messy and very prolonged negotiations over his exit.
The first page of the transfer rulebook is never to say explicitly that you wish to leave – even if you do. Yet in one interview Rashford has given away the advantage. United have never said that they wish to sell him, in spite of the well-sourced Telegraph Sport story last week that revealed the club were open to offers last summer for their best-paid player. In fact, neither United, the new Ineos hierarchy nor the manager, Ruben Amorim, have said anything on the matter.
Instead Rashford has done it for them. “For me, personally, I think I’m ready for a new challenge and the next steps,” he told the journalist Henry Winter in an interview on Tuesday at the player’s former primary school. A remarkable disclosure in the circumstances. Rashford is United’s highest earner, on at least £325,000 per week over a five-year contract signed at the end of the 2022-23 season.
After a dismal 2023-24 season, and one lost weekend in Belfast, the club were privately keen to sell Rashford and give themselves some breathing space on their profitability and sustainability compliancy – but there were no takers.
That was before Rashford was left out of Amorim’s squad for the Manchester City game on Sunday and plunged his relationship with United’s new manager into doubt. At that point both sides were at an impasse. It was obvious that United would have liked a sale. They might even have taken a much-reduced fee just to be rid of Rashford’s wage obligation. But under contract until the end of June 2028, Rashford held all the cards.
Hard to discern any strategy at play
Until now that is, when Rashford has declared his intention to leave. United can now say to any interested party they want a considerable fee, and that in turn will impact on the budget for Rashford’s wages at any destination club. With Rashford publicly initiating the move, United will insist that it is he who will have to bear the cost. He may argue he is simply being honest although it is hard to discern any strategy at play.
It is notable that even in their drawn-out departures from Chelsea, neither Mason Mount nor Conor Gallagher ever gave up their leverage in negotiations by saying publicly in their respective cases that they wished to leave.
There remains a belief in English football that the rest of the world – Real Madrid and Barcelona in particular – still have the kind of money to spend that they did in those days when no fee was too high for Spain’s big two, and no contract too large. Yet the reality is otherwise. Real prefer signing players out of free agency. Kylian Mbappé last summer and possibly Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alphonso Davies this summer. They might pay a premium for standout young talents, like Jude Bellingham, but those are only expensive relative to the usual cost for players of that age.
Barcelona went on a relatively big spend in the summer of 2022 – with money borrowed from future earnings – but the days of the previous decade when they would throw huge fees at established Premier League stars are over.
Saga will have a long way to run
The same seems to be the case at Paris Saint-Germain who, like so many clubs now in Europe, are not prepared to spend big fees on players over the age of 25. Bayern Munich did so for Harry Kane at the behest of their previous manager Thomas Tuchel but even the wisdom of that deal is up for debate – and Kane has scored a lot of goals in Germany.
Rashford has had more than a season out of form. There were clearly no good options in the summer. What now? It is his brother Dwaine Maynard who is his younger sibling’s representative although there is no sign of him on the current list of Football Association-registered football agents. That is a requirement to sign off on a transfer – and to be paid an agent’s fee.
Either way, this is where it gets tough. Amorim has a press conference at 9am on Wednesday ahead of the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Tottenham Hotspur, and who knows what he might say. Certainly, he would be within his rights to declare this a distraction he could do without. Also, that if Rashford does wish to leave that it will be on United’s terms and not those of their contracted player.
This saga will have a long way to run and most of all it requires a buyer for Rashford – willing to pay a price agreeable to United and also to meet the player’s terms. As things stand it will be in that order of priority.
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