Aston Villa reach decision on signing Man Utd loanee Marcus Rashford 

Unai Emery and Aston Villa have come to the same conclusion on whether to sign Manchester United loanee, Marcus Rashford, to a permanent deal, according to a report.

Rashford was repeatedly left out of Ruben Amorim’s matchday squads in the run-up to the winter window. The Man Utd star’s attitude and application in training were frequently cited by the Portuguese manager when explaining why.

An exit in January became inevitable and after interest from several European giants came and went, a move within the Premier League awaited.

At the behest of Unai Emery, Aston Villa signed both Rashford and Marco Asensio on the back of selling Jhon Duran to the Saudi Pro League.

Both players have lit up Villa Park thus far, with Asensio scoring eight times and Rashford notching eight goal contributions (three goals, five assists).

Villa do not hold an option to buy Asensio when his loan from PSG concludes. However, they did insert an option to buy Rashford from Man Utd for £40m.

And according to a fresh update from the Sun, Emery and the Villa hierarchy are all singing from the same hymn sheet and want Rashford to join outright.

They stated Emery has ‘told Villa chiefs he’s confident the Manchester United forward’s head is in the right place and that signing him would help take the club to the next level.’

The club’s decision-makers have listened, with the report adding: ‘the Premier League side want to make the current loan arrangement they have with the England star a permanent switch.’

Whether Villa now intend to activate their option or will explore a fresh move with Man Utd for a lower sum remains to be seen.

The presence of other suitors – like PSG who L’Equipe claimed are back in for Rashford – could prompt Villa to bite the bullet and pay full price.

In any case, the Sun concluded by stating ‘the big issue will be Rashford’s salary but Villa hope he could be persuaded to take a drop in his wages in order to secure a move that will help resurrect his career with the club and England.’

Rashford is understood to earn around £300,000-a-week as part of his deal with parent club United at present.

Emery told why Rashford is not the answer

Yet despite Rashford’s flying start at Villa Park and the Sun’s strong claims, one figure within the game who believes a permanent move might be a mistake is Ben Foster.

The former England international goalkeeper does not believe Rashford is well-rounded enough for Emery and zeroed in on his inability to hold the ball up when deployed as the lone striker.

“I don’t know if Rashford is going to be the answer,” Foster said on his Fozcast podcast.

“When he came on in the [Nottingham] Forest game the other day, they were 2-0 up at the time and I was thinking, ‘What would Rashford’s objectives be here?’

“I think when Emery brought him on, he would’ve said, ‘right Marcus, we’re 2-0 up and Forest had some good chances in that first half. I’m going to need you to get hold of the ball for me. I’m going to need you to try and get it down and get us up the pitch’.

“There were a couple of times where they went long to him, and he was not willing to stick his head up there. He’s not willing to get hurt physically and the ball just came back.”

Latest Man Utd news – Cunha progress / Onana replacement / Delap conditions

🔴⚫️ Man Utd accelerate Matheus Cunha signing; explosive plan B named if deal falls through

🔴⚫️ Man Utd make contact with Prem rival for GK transfer as Onana calamities mount up

🔴⚫️ Top Man Utd striker target Liam Delap will sign if two guarantees made

Rashford at Aston Villa: The timeline

By Samuel Bannister

February 2: Aston Villa announce the addition of Rashford on loan for the rest of the season

February 9: Unai Emery gives Rashford his Villa debut as a substitute in an FA Cup game against Tottenham

February 22: Rashford provides two assists to Marco Asensio to help give Villa a 2-1 win over Chelsea

February 28: Rashford adds another assist, again to Asensio, in an FA Cup win over Cardiff City

March 4: Emery selects Rashford as a starter for his first Champions League appearance since November 2023 as Villa beat Club Brugge

March 12: Rashford gets an assist in the second leg against Club Brugge as Villa qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals

March 14: Thomas Tuchel names Rashford in his first England squad, 12 months since his previous international cap

March 21: Rashford starts against Albania in Tuchel’s first game in charge of England

March 30: Playing as a striker, Rashford scores his first two goals in a Villa shirt in an FA Cup quarter-final win over Preston.

April 2: Rashford’s first league goal for Villa quickly follows in a win away at Brighton.