Fabrizio Romano drops huge Marcus Rashford to Aston Villa update

Unai Emery has granted Aston Villa permission to go all out to sign Marcus Rashford from Manchester United and the player is keen on the switch.

The Villa head coach has admitted it’s not a priority to sign another attacker this month with the likes of Donyell Malen and Morgan Rogers capable of playing just in behind Ollie Watkins, but it’s still an area he’d prefer to strengthen in than not.

Rashford, out of sorts at Old Trafford, is available for clubs to sign on loan. The 60-time England international was expected to be waiting out for a move to Barcelona but the Catalan giants have seemingly dropped out of the race.

The Athletic revealed yesterday that Villa were interested in Rashford and Fabrizio Romano has now dropped a significant update. The Italian journalist posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday morning: “Unai Emery has given the green light to Aston Villa board to try advance on Marcus Rashford loan deal.

“Expensive and difficult one but Villa have already approached Marcus’ camp, strong interest… …and negotiations ongoing.”

Birmingham World has maintained throughout the week that Joao Felix is the preferred target following the news of Jhon Duran’s exit - with Marco Asensio another option - but Rashford is now firmly in the conversation too.

Ruben Amorim willing to let Marcus Rashford join Aston Villa

Man Utd manager Ruben Amorim has refused to select Rashford for matches over the past couple of months despite the attacker being fit and available. The United boss has explained on several occasions that the desired attitude and effort levels are severely lacking.

Last week, Amorim rather brutally admitted he’d rather play his goalkeeping coach, Jorge Vital, if it meant he’d get 100 per cent commitment. "It’s the same situation for every player. If you do the maximum, if you do the right things, we can use every player,” Amorim said.

"And you can see it today on the bench – we miss a little bit of pace to go to change the game, to move some pieces, but I prefer [it] like that. I will put Vital before I put a player that doesn't give the maximum every day, so I will not change in that."

The last time Rashford featured for Man Utd was on December 12, as he played 56 minutes in the 2-1 away win at Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League. It appeared Rashford had turned a positive corner just a few weeks before as he scored three goals in two Premier League matches - against Ipswich Town and Everton - but he’s since fallen well out of favour.

Alejandro Garnacho has experienced similar treatment from Amorim and the Argentine was left out of United’s squad for the 2-1 derby victory away at Manchester City in December. Unlike Rashford, though, Garnacho has been reinstated into the matchday squad since.

How would Rashford fit in at Villa?

Emery now has the necessary cash to splash on a permanent addition to Villa’s attacking ranks with Duran’s £64.5 million plus add-ons transfer to Al-Nassr confirmed, but signing Rashford on loan could buy the club time to ensure they proceed correctly.

It’s not like Rashford is a bad player, after all, and far from it. Emery has proven in the past just how well he can turn around fortunes for out-of-sorts players and he could do the same in this case.

Predominantly a left winger but also capable of playing off the right or as an out-and-out centre-forward, Rashford has racked up an extraordinary 426 appearances, 138 goals and 63 assists for United. The Red Devils academy product has never left his boyhood club, so his next move is a vitally important one.

In other news, Ollie Watkins has had a meeting with Emery to discuss his future following a bid from Arsenal.