Man Utd’s Rashford regret: Barcelona to sign England star for HALF PRICE

Robin Bairner

19 Feb 2026 18:00 GMT
4 min read

Marcus Rashford, Barcelona, Man Utd, 2025/26 — © IMAGO

Marcus Rashford’s loan agreement with Barcelona is a source of ‘regret’ for Manchester United, and the Old Trafford side are absolutely right to lament a costly mistake they made last summer.

Article continues under the video

In the aftermath of a fallout with former Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim in late 2024, Rashford was shunted out of the club on loan last summer in a deal struck with Barcelona.

Included in that agreement was a buyout fee worth €30 million for the Catalan side – a figure that the Red Devils lament as being much too low, according to a report from the Daily Star. And they’re right.

Current ETV

Marcus Rashford

F, M (L)

Barcelona

Marcus Rashford

F, M (L)

Barcelona

ETV Range

€39.2M - €65.3M

Man Utd set a low buyout clause

Man Utd set the buyout fee for Rashford much too low – even with the England star out of the picture at Old Trafford and coming off a mixed loan with Aston Villa, where he showed his best form in flurries.

His Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) when United agreed the loan move with Barcelona was €53.6m – nearly twice as much as the Catalan side’s purchase option.

A strong campaign with the Blaugrana has seen Rashford’s ETV hold steady. With 10 goals and 11 assists for Hansi Flick’s side, he is now valued at €52.2m.

One of the reasons that this is not higher is because he’s not a habitual starter at Camp Nou. Indeed, his appearances have been split between 20 starts and 14 substitute appearances.

When it comes to minutes played, he ranks only ninth at the club and sits sandwiched between Fermin Lopez and Ferran Torres.

Barcelona’s 50% discount on Rashford

United, it is claimed, believe that they could fetch more than €57m (£50m) for Rashford in the current market.

This estimation is not too far off the mark based on the player’s current ETV. Indeed, the top-end estimation suggests that €65m would not be an unfair price for the player.

As such, Barcelona will get a discount of more than 50% if they chose to sign Rashford at the end of the season.

The only reason that this is not an automatic call from Flick’s side is their difficult financial situation, which sees their hands tied due to Spain’s strict Financial Fair Play (FFP) measures.

These rules, which are a curse for Barca, may just save Man Utd after they made a mistake writing such a cheap buyout option into Rashford’s loan last summer.

The FootballTransfers app

Check out FootballTransfers' new app for all of football's big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.

The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:

•Google Play

•App Store