What impact does Marcus Rashford’s injury have on the chances Aston Villa sign him permanently from Manchester United?

Marcus Rashford’s future is well and truly up in the air.

The 62-time England international was left for dead at his boyhood club, Manchester United, in the winter as manager Ruben Amorim felt his work rate was insufficient and his attitude was intolerable.

Rashford escaped what was turning into a disaster at Old Trafford to join Aston Villa on Deadline Day and it was a great success, until he suffered a hamstring injury that’s expected to keep him out for the rest of the season.

The versatile attacker, first used as a left winger before leading the line ahead of Ollie Watkins, has contributed four goals and six assists in 17 appearances for Villa to date. On average, Rashford has been directly involved in a goal every 94 minutes.

It appeared Rashford was finally making strides to getting back to his clinical best but the injury has really thrown the cat amongst the pigeons. Unai Emery now has a decent 940-minute sample size to assess but the manager would’ve much preferred an extra few appearances to dig his analytic teeth into.

It’s important Emery can have a proper look as Villa have the option to buy Rashford permanently for £40 million in the summer. It’s not an easy deal for the Villans to complete due to several financial restrictions, not least a struggle to remain in line with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR).

Does Rashford’s injury scupper his chances of Villa signing him permanently?

Rashford’s hamstring issue, suffered in training between the 2-1 Premier League defeat away at Manchester City and the crushing 3-0 FA Cup semi-final loss to Crystal Palace at Wembley, certainly isn’t ideal. He can’t play in the final game away at Man Utd due to his ineligibility, and the Tottenham Hotspur clash on May 18 will probably come too soon.

As mentioned, his absence means Villa now have fewer matches to assess his adaptation to Emery’s system. You’d think a good two and a half months would be enough, but players often don’t fully settle into Emery’s structure for a good half a season at least, if not longer.

Youri Tielemans is a fine example of this as the Belgium international really struggled when he first joined from Leicester City, but he’s since gone on to become an indispensable cog in the Emery machine. The same can be said for Lucas Digne as the left-back looked destined to leave two summers ago but stayed and is now an important player.

The injury isn’t an absolute deal-breaker for Villa as they are still weighing up the possibility of signing Rashford. What it does mean, though, is there’s fewer opportunities for the Man Utd man to prove to Emery he simply can’t go without bringing him in for the long term.

Signing Rashford permanently has always been a difficult proposition for Villa due to the financial demands. Wages are more of an issue at the club than transfer fees as it stands, so getting high earners off the books is probably the sensible approach, not bringing in more.

That said, a player of Rashford’s quality could potentially take Villa to the next level. More will become clear in the coming weeks, with a potential Champions League qualification another huge factor.

Another consideration is the other clubs interested in signing Rashford, including Barcelona. The La Liga giants are reportedly willing to pay £50 million to sign the forward from Man Utd.