Rashford swaps: 16-goal forward among six Barcelona options for Man Utd | OneFootball

Barcelona president Joan Laporta and sporting director Deco are apparently ‘convinced’ they’re making the right decision in signing Marcus Rashford on a permanent deal at the end of his season-long loan from Manchester United.

Ummm, yeah, he’s got 10 goals and 13 assists and will cost you £26m – it’s a bona fide bargain.

And yet, the Catalan skin-flints are looking at ways to reduce or even cancel out that cost through offering players in exchange. A report from Spain put two possible names forward and we’ve added another four reasonable swap options.

Ferran Torres

No Barcelona player has scored more than Torres’ 16 goals this season, but a footballer who’s been linked with the Nou Camp exit pretty much ever since he arrived from Manchester City for £48m in January 2022 remains one of the big lever-less sources of cash in the eyes of the decision-makers ahead of his contract expiring in 2027.

Reports suggest Barcelona will choose between Torres and Robert Lewandowski at the end of the season, and with eyes now permanently fixed on their coffers, we suspect granting Lewandowski an extension on reduced terms (something he’s amenable to) while either selling £43m-rated Torres or using him in the deal for Rashford, will be the preference of the bean-counters over signing Torres up to a new contract and allowing Lewandowski to leave for nothing.

Chances are they would want a cash sweetener from United, who would be signing some very worthy competition in any of their three forward positions.

Marc Casado

A 22-year-old La Masia graduate ‘keeping the doors open’ to a move to Saudi Arabia in the summer is a sorry state of affairs and we can only hope it’s a mere play from Casado’s agent to give other interested parties – Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea have all been linked – the kick up the arse required to get negotiations going.

A report has claimed Barcelona ‘would include’ Casado – who’s valued at £22m and has started 12 games this season – in a deal for Rashford as they’re ‘willing to do without’ him.

Assuming United end up spending big on one of Elliot Anderson, Adam Wharton or Carlos Baleba as has been reported, they could do with their second central midfield signing – and they will need another – to cost very little, or indeed feel like not outlay whatsoever, as would be the case in a swap with Rashford.

Frenkie de Jong

427th time’s a charm. A transfer saga which peaked in the summer of 2022 when United had a bid accepted by Barcelona before De Jong dug his heels in has bubbled to the surface in nigh-on every transfer window since. The Netherlands international has never given any indication of interest in a move to Old Trafford because he, well, plays for Barcelona.

He’s got a lot of contract too, having signed an extension until 2029 in October, making this the most pie in the sky option of all on this list. You never know though; he’s valued by Transfermarkt at just £40m and cynics will suggest that Barcelona extending his deal was more a means to ensure a decent transfer fee should United or other suitors come knocking.

Despite being a very talented footballer and a key leader for the La Liga side, it’s never felt as though his position or role in the club – even often as captain – is particularly secure. Might the chance to prove himself in the Premier League intrigue De Jong?

We suspect Barcelona would open the doors should United offer cash plus Rashford for the midfielder to be a key part of the Michael Carrick project. A De Jong/Kobbie Mainoo midfield could be quite something.

Ronald Araujo

Ten guesses to the unenlightened and we doubt they would name Araujo as club captain of Barcelona. The centre-back has started just seven La Liga games this season, admittedly thanks in part to injury and a mental health break, and has forever been one of the candidates put forward by Barcelona in swap moves or in a bid to raise a bit of cash.

A report claims the Catalans ‘would be content with a simple player swap’ for Rashford. Yeah, we bet you would, chaps. United have plenty of superior centre-backs.

Roony Bardghji

Barcelona swept Bardghji up from Copenhagen for a £2m pittance and he’s barely played despite showing a fair whack of his enviable talent when he has featured, because that enviable talent pales in comparison to his competition on the right wing at Barcelona.

For Manchester United, or almost any club for that matter, someone with even half the quality of Lamine Yamal sounds pretty sweet, and at 20, there’s huge resale value in Bardghji assuming they manage to snap him up for half a Rashford or so.

Eric Garcia

There will be a fair bit of indifference and perhaps even some discontent among United fans should they opt to swap arguably their great academy graduate of this century for someone who didn’t make the grade at Manchester City, but Garcia has proven himself to be a very useful player in Barcelona, at centre-back, right-back and at the base of midfield.

His Transfermarkt value suggests he would be a straight swap for Rashford and the INEOS bosses might just consider a versatile 25-year-old with his volume of experience at the highest level a decent exchange option.