‘Set for medical’: Man Utd close to finalising another transfer just two days after Mbeumo deal | OneFootball

Manchester United are reportedly close to offloading Marcus Rashford to Barcelona on a loan deal.

Aston Villa returned the England international following his mid-season loan switch in the 2024/25 campaign.

The 27-year-old registered 10 goal contributions in 17 games, evidently doing enough to convince Barca sporting director Deco that he’s worth a risk-free punt this summer.

Marcus Rashford set for Barcelona medical

(Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

How on earth has it come to this?

Rashford was once thought of as an untouchable quantity at Old Trafford; the prodigal son who would, one day, help lead United back to our glorious heights.

Fast forward to the 2025 summer transfer window and the picture couldn’t look any different!

Now, Fabrizio Romano reports on X (formerly Twitter) that Marcus Rashford is set to undergo a medical at the La Liga giants ahead of a proposed loan move.

Why do Manchester United need to offload Rashford?

First things first, United are not in a position to throw cash around to snap up all their targets in quick succession – certainly not without encouraging some exits.

The likes of Antony and Jadon Sancho have all been tipped to make way to help facilitate further moves in the market. Whilst we won’t see a potentially beneficial figure inflate the club coffers, we can’t underestimate the value of Manchester United taking Rashford completely off the wage bill.

* Manchester United’s top three earners, via Capology

To put that into context, that’s almost double new signing Matheus Cunha’s £180k-a-week wages!

Yes, it means the club has compromised on what was thought to be a firm position on getting a fee for Marcus Rashford.

At the very least, however, the Englishman’s wages will cover incoming addition Bryan Mbeumo and, quite possibly, another top signing later in the window.

Add on top of that the fact that Barcelona have an option to buy (€30m [£25.9m]) they could exploit, and United could squeeze even more out of the deal financially. Albeit, of course, further down the line.

This is all pretty critical if the Red Devils are serious about landing a quality striker (say, for example, Benjamin Sesko) before the league season kicks off.