Manchester United have set a £40 million ($34.8 million) transfer valuation on Marcus Rashford sources have told ESPN, but ruled out the possibility of a move to traditional rivals Liverpool or Manchester City, after Barcelona rejected the chance to sign the forward on a permanent deal.
Rashford, 28, is in the United States preparing for England’s World Cup opener against Croatia in Dallas on Wednesday, but the forward now faces an uncertain club future following Barcelona’s decision not to trigger a €30 million option to convert his season-long deal into a full transfer.
The Manchester-born player scored 14 goals and registered 14 assists in 49 appearances for Hansi Flick’s team last season, helping the club to the LaLiga title.
But Barcelona’s £69.3 million ($93 million) move for Newcastle United’s Anthony Gordon earlier this month scuppered Rashford’s hopes of a full-time deal at Camp Nou and he will now be expected to return to United later this summer following an extended break at the end of his World Cup commitments.
Rashford has made over 400 senior appearances for United since making his debut under Louis van Gaal in Feb 2016 and he still has two years left to run on a £350,000 ($470,000)-a-week contract at Old Trafford.
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Sources have said that Rashford favours seeing out the remainder of his United contract over a move to another Premier League club, but while United are open to the player moving within England, he will not be allowed to join Liverpool or City at the £40m ($53.7m) trigger fee.
No player has moved directly between United and Liverpool since the 1960s and traffic between United and City has also been limited over the years, with no major player crossing the Mancunian divide since Carlos Tevez left Old Trafford for the Etihad in 2009.
