Manchester United are in the Premier League relegation zone for the first time this far into a season. And their highest-profile attacker, it turns out, had already told his agent to find him a club outside England.
“If United is not an option, I told my agent to take me abroad, don’t take me to another Premier League club,” Marcus Rashford said in a leaked question-and-answer session recorded before United’s Champions League tie against Roma, first reported by FootballTransfers and carried by LiveScore.
The timing is brutal for both sides. United were pushed into 18th on 7 November after Nottingham Forest beat Manchester City, with eight points from 10 matches and only one league win all season.
A Villa year that changed everything
Rashford’s thinking shifted during his loan at Aston Villa, the 29-year-old told the same Q&A.
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“During my time at Aston Villa I realised one thing, I couldn’t continue playing against United every season.”
A season-long loan at Barcelona in 2025-26 followed, with 14 goals and 15 assists, before Barça declined the £26m option to buy. Since returning to Old Trafford in the summer, Rashford has gone eight appearances without a goal or assist and is currently out with a hip injury.
United open the door
The leaked quotes surface as United themselves are preparing to let him go. Yahoo Sports reported on 29 October that the club are willing to sanction a January loan with a buy option attached, with Everton the first interested party.
The obstacle is wages. Rashford’s base salary of around £325,000 a week is understood to be the main complication, with Everton likely to need United to subsidise a substantial portion even on loan.
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Rashford has sounded resigned in his own public remarks.
“I expected my United career to go differently to how it did,” he said in comments reported by TeamTalk on 5 November, days after he was dropped from the matchday squad ahead of his injury.
Carrick under pressure
Head coach Michael Carrick, appointed in the summer on a two-year contract, is the subject of internal meetings at Old Trafford over his future, with senior staff understood to be weighing replacements including Eddie Howe, Julian Nagelsmann and Mauricio Pochettino.
United return from the international break to host Liverpool at Old Trafford on 22 November. The January transfer window opens six weeks later.
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