Marcus Rashford: Three clubs preparing everything to strike a deal

Marcus Rashford looks increasingly likely to leave Manchester United for the Saudi Pro League during the January transfer window.

Rashford finds himself out of new head coach Ruben Amorim’s plans. The academy product has not even made the squad for United’s last two matches, while it would be a surprise if he were to featured against Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Sunday.

He has admitted that he is seeking a “new challenge” but the prospects of finding a major European club are slim due to his lack of recent form and massive salary demands.

With this expected to be a problem, Rashford could complete a move to the Saudi Pro League, where there are no such financial difficulties for the 27-year-old, who has a net salary of a reported €16 million.

Three Saudi clubs are positioning themselves to sign the England international, with former Chelsea sporting director Michael Emenalo having been placed in charge of finding him a club.

These teams know that Rashford would prefer to stay in Europe, but they have worked hard and have already prepared everything to try to persuade the striker to move to the Middle East.

Who wants to sign Rashford?

Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli and Al-Qadsiah are all vying to sign the attacker, TalkSport reports.

Al-Alhi, who already have Roberto Firmino and fellow England forward Ivan Toney on their books – are said to be the most advanced when it comes to signing the Man Utd star.

There is a slight catch in their interest, however. In order to land Rashford, they will need to sell or unregister one of their current foreign players in order for him to play in the Saudi Pro League.

They already have a number of well-known faces on their books, with former Chelsea keeper Edouard Mendy, ex-Barcelona midfielder Franck Kessie and Turkish centre-back Merih Demiral all part of their squad in addition to Gabri Veiga, who was considered one of the biggest up-and-coming talents from Spain before leaving for Saudi.

With the January transfer window just around the corner, the pieces slowly appear to be falling into place for Man Utd and Rashford.