Stay or go - at 28, Rashford faces big Man Utd call

Marcus Rashford's World Cup ended with a considered and thoughtful social media post, issued in the aftermath of England's amazing 6-4 third-place play-off victory over France in Miami.

Disappointments are guaranteed in football, he said, before opening out in a more positive vein and stating firmly: "Keep believing in us. Our time will come."

He added: "Now it's time for me to rest, reflect, spend some quality time with family and friends, and come back a better version of myself."

'Reflect' is the big word in that overview.

At 28, Rashford is moving into what should be the prime years of his career.

He has just won his first league title, La Liga with Barcelona, has 77 England caps and featured in six out of eight games as Thomas Tuchel's side delivered the country's best World Cup performance since 1966.

But in reality, a large part of what Rashford will be reflecting on with his family - some of whom are also key figures in terms of guiding his career - is whether his club future lies at Manchester United.

Rashford is contracted to Manchester United until 2028. His salary of £325,000 a week makes him the club's top earner at a time when minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is trying to stay on top of salary costs, which are, by some distance, the club's highest expenditure.

Barcelona had an option, in the loan deal they agreed for Rashford last season, to turn it into a permanent transfer for £26m.

As expected, that deadline passed in the middle of June without it being activated.

There was another clause in Rashford's contract that allowed other clubs - Liverpool and Manchester City excepted - to buy him for £40m, which expired earlier in July. As expected, no-one triggered that either.

Sources close to the player felt it was illogical to think a club would come in and offer more than Barcelona would have had to pay.

With England's World Cup campaign at an end, Rashford is now entitled to a three-week break.

Unless the timings are altered, or his situation changes, he will return to Manchester United just as they begin a six-day training camp in the Republic of Ireland, scheduled around an historic meeting with old rivals Leeds at Croke Park on 12 August.

Suggestions around Rashford have been that he is relaxed about the prospect of returning to training at United.

For a start, there is not the same confrontational relationship between the player and his coach.

Ruben Amorim fell out with the forward within weeks of his arrival from Sporting Lisbon. Amorim eventually exiled him, which triggered a loan move to Aston Villa.

Then the head coach put Rashford in his 'bomb squad', along with Alejandro Garnacho, Antony, Tyrell Malacia and Jadon Sancho, when pre-season training began last summer.

The other four players have all now left the club.

Amorim's replacement, Michael Carrick, is a former team-mate of Rashford's. He has also been his coach and was, briefly, his manager, following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's dismissal in 2021. The pair are said to get on well.

Carrick's only public statement around Rashford, towards the end of last season, was conciliatory in nature, which is in keeping with his general personality.

He is so far yet to be asked what his stance is around the player returning to the fold.

For their part, United are sticking to their refusal to renegotiate a deal with Barcelona on reduced terms or consider a second loan to the Catalan giants.

It is not clear what interest there is in Rashford at the Nou Camp given Barca have already signed England wide-man Anthony Gordon and are about to bring in Germany forward Karim Adeyemi from Borussia Dortmund.

The consistency of United's messaging is being articulated in a summer where they are keen to prove they will not be bullied into overpaying to get deals over the line.

That financial discipline may have consequences - while the feeling was Elliot Anderson would have joined Manchester City anyway, United did not countenance paying the £116m Nottingham Forest eventually sold him for.

The same is true of Mateus Fernandes and his £85m switch from West Ham to Tottenham.

Nevertheless, Manchester United's enhanced used of data through director Michael Sansoni and his dedicated team means the club feel bullish about their chances of landing alternative targets who offer better value.

What reception would Rashford get at Man Utd?

Clearly just as United need active sellers to buy from, they need buyers so they can offload those players they do not want.