Marcus Rashford Bids Farewell To His Manchester United Teammates

Marcus Rashford has said his goodbyes to teammates at Manchester United on Saturday as he heads towards his move to Aston Villa.

The 27-year old spoke to United staff and players at Carrington after being given the green light for his loan switch to Villa Park.

Personal terms have been agreed and the finer details of terms between clubs are being ironed out.

Unai Emery has been keen to strengthen his striking options and add pace following the £65m sale of Jhon Duran to Al Nassr. But the move for Rashford is not without risk following his performances for United in recent months.

Rashford has been at United since he was eight years old and is expected to wrap up his move within the next 24 hours.

The England international has fallen out of favour at his boyhood club and is being allowed to leave before the window closes on Monday. Rashford’s wages of about £350,000 are well in excess of the salary of Villa’s top earner, though to be Emi Martinez.

It is understood Villa will contribute a significant proportion of Rashford’s salary, which will included performance-based clauses. The agreement is also set to include a buy option at the end of the season.

After selling Jhon Duran to Al Nassr for a deal that could reach £70million, Villa were left with Ollie Watkins as their only senior centre-forward. Emery said Watkins would not leave this month despite a bid from Arsenal last Wednesday.

Though Arsenal believed Watkins was open to joining them, Emery tried to shut down the move on Friday, with Villa preparing to take on Wolves at Molineux on Saturday. He had been keen to bring in Joao Felix but AC Milan are also pushing to sign the Chelsea forward.

Rashford isn’t the only departure expected from United on Saturday. Dutch left-back Tyrell Malacia has also said his farewells to teammates at Carrington as he looks to join Benfica.