Manchester United are open to letting Marcus Rashford leave the club and have put the forward up for sale, according to reports in England.
Rashford has been marginalised and on the way out of Old Trafford as part of a cultural reboot deemed necessary to transform the club after standards were allowed to decline for more than a decade, the Guardian claimed on Monday.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is intent there can be no passengers and is ready to cut his losses on Rashford if there are suitors in January. A willingness to take short-term pain in pursuit of long-term gain was also behind Dan Ashworth’s exit as sporting director after five months when United had paid £5m to bring him from Newcastle.
Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho were dropped by Ruben Amorim from the squad for Sunday’s derby win at Manchester City and whereas a way back is regarded as possible for Garnacho, the feeling at the club is that Rashford’s time is up.
Amorim has decided Rashford needs to leave in the push to engineer a shift in culture throughout the club, for football and non-football staff.
United would consider a cut-price offer for Rashford, the Guardian added. A move in January would be ideal, though his salary of £365,000 a week means only a few clubs could afford him.
Ratcliffe, the largest minority shareholder, believes a decline in values at United has been allowed since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in May 2013. When assessing Amorim’s candidacy after Erik ten Hag’s sacking in October, Ratcliffe was impressed by the Portuguese’s willingness to address the level of change required.
Amorim said on Sunday in reference to Rashford and Garnacho: “It is important the performance in training, the performance in games, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you engage with your teammates, the way you push your teammates.”
The head coach also said the pair would be competing for a place in the squad for Thursday’s Carabao Cup tie at Tottenham and Sunday’s Premier League fixture at home to Bournemouth.
Ratcliffe’s view is that previous managers have attempted a revolution but were hampered by a lack of support and is determined there will be alignment from top to bottom on the matter.
Englishman Rashford, 27, made his Manchester United debut in 2016 under Luis van Gaal and has made 426 appearances for the club in all competitions, registering 138 goals and 64 assists.
