Manchester United face paying Marcus Rashford around £20million just to get the forward off their books this summer. The 27-year-old is currently on loan at Aston Villa until the end of the season, having shown glimpses of his best form under Unai Emery.

Despite not scoring in his nine appearances so far, Rashford has been prominent for his side in both the Premier League and in Europe. Villa have the option of signing on a permanent £40m deal in the summer, a clause they may trigger following the exit of Jhon Duran. However, they are currently only paying around 75 per cent of his £315,000-a-week wages, an agreement that runs until June 30.

According to the Daily Mail, United's fee could essentially be halved, though. They would seemingly have to hand Rashford a pay-off to make up for his drop in wages, which is said to be in the region of £20m.

However, United bosses can at least reflect on being proven right for handing Rashford his bumper new deal in the summer of 2023. It followed his best season in English football, where he scored 30 goals in all competitions and was pivotal to the League Cup win under Erik ten Hag.

He only scored 15 goals in the 67 United games that followed though, leading to the club being severely criticised for giving the deal. However, his resurgence at Villa has led to talk of an England recall, seemingly justifying the financial commitment.

United are also now safeguarded against losing him for a cut-price fee. Furthermore, Rashford doesn't have the option of simply running his contract down and leaving for free given it still has three years left to run.

Aston Villa aren't the only interested party, with several European clubs also linked. However, the Premier League side are one of the few able to match the wage demands.

The development occurred in the same week that United minority stakeholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe claimed that the club needed to make drastic cuts to ease financial burdens. He admitted they had been guilty of overpaying many stars, and said "they will run out of money by the end of 2025" if action is not taken.