Marcus Rashford’s loan move to Aston Villa was confirmed by Manchester United late on Sunday evening, with the club wishing him “good luck for the rest of the season”.
The forward’s departure comes after Ruben Amorim refused to play him since mid-December due to “training reasons”. In a statement United said: “Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has joined Aston Villa on loan until the end of the 2024-25 season. Everyone at Manchester United wishes Marcus good luck for the rest of the season.”
A minimum 75% of Rashford’s £365k-a-week wage will be covered by Villa, rising to 90% depending on performance-based bonuses. The Midlands club have an option to buy in the summer, with the fee understood to be in the region of £40m.
Speaking before the announcement, Amorim denied that United would be “embarrassed” if Rashford proves a prolific scorer for Villa during his loan.
The head coach spoke after overseeing United’s 2-0 loss against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, a seventh home league defeat in their opening 13 games, which matches the club’s poorest-ever start, in the 1893‑94 season. The result was made all the worse when Lisandro Martínez was taken off on a stretcher in the second half with Amorim describing the injury as a “serious situation”.
United have scored just 28 times in the top flight – only the bottom three clubs plus Everton have scored fewer. With Amorim’s team struggling to find the net he was asked if it would be humiliating for United if Rashford scores many times for Villa.
The 40-year-old Portuguese said: “Humiliating? It’s not embarrassing. When you loan a player – and I don’t think it’s official – you expect him to play and to improve, so there is nothing humiliating there. I understand the question but I am just focused on my players, that’s all. When the window closes, I will be really focused on just our team and to improve our team.”
Rashford said: “I would like to thank Manchester United and Aston Villa for making this loan deal happen. I was lucky to have a few clubs approach me but Aston Villa was an easy decision - I really admire the way that Aston Villa have been playing this season, and the manager’s ambitions.
“I just want to play football and am excited to get started. I wish everyone at Manchester United all the best for the rest of the season.”
United are targeting the Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel as a loan replacement, although it is thought the deal is in the balance after United had two bids rejected. Amorim was asked about his potential arrival. “When the window closes we will see the players. I’m focused on improving the team as a group, we need to win more games and we will try to do that, this season is like that. We need small improvements, try to win points, win the momentum, then we had setbacks and we go again.
“But it’s clear we need to improve. We’ll see – there is one more day [of the market], let’s wait until the window closes. We have to improve as a team to score goals and we are trying the best to improve the team. This market is really hard on the clubs to make some deals here. It’s hard.”
Arsenal are also in the running to loan Tel, who rejected a permanent move to Tottenham after they agreed a £50m fee with Bayern last week.
Meanwhile, Amorim admitted real concern over the Martínez injury. “We are going to see in the next few days but I think it is a serious situation,” said the head coach. “He is not only a great player but a strong character in the dressing room. He felt it and when you are a player, you know when it is something serious. We are here to help him in this difficult moment like he has helped us.”
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