Expose Manchester United to sell Rashford for 20 million! He is willing to cut his salary by 2 million to go to Barcelona, and Arsenal has inquired

Marcus Rashford's loan battle continues and his agent's brother Dwayne Maynard is in talks across Europe with interested clubs. The latest to be approached is La Liga's Barcelona, who are the 27-year-old England winger's favourite and are willing to give up £2 million in favour of landing at Camp Nou. Manchester United have adopted a simple standard of "the highest bidder wins", and they can take the academy star for as little as £20 million.

Marcus Rashford's agent has already met with clubs such as AC Milan, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund, with Napoli, Tottenham and West Ham United among the names rumoured this week. Italian transfer expert Fabrizio Romano confirmed that Barça, who have temporarily settled the registration of Olmo, have also joined the list of contacts.

Romano said: "After Juve, Milan and Dort, Barcelona have also received information about Rashford's loan. This week, Barcelona made direct contact with the player's team. Like other clubs, negotiations are in the early stages and nothing has been decided yet."

It is reported that Barcelona and Rashford's brother have made their first direct contact, with Dwayne Maynard set to lead the negotiations. Barça's sporting director Deco is in charge of the talks and will find out if signing Rashford is viable. Marcus Rashford, on the other hand, said he would be willing to take £2 million less if he joined Barca. Rashford's weekly salary at Manchester United is as high as 325,000 pounds, and the salary for half a season is about 8 million pounds, if the Red Devils pay half, Barcelona only needs to give 4 million wages, and subtract 2 million, which is equivalent to La Liga clubs only need to pay 80,000 pounds!

Barcelona have been Rashford's first choice, but United believe Milan, Juventus and Borussia Dort are all showing greater interest at this stage, with the clubs planning further meetings with Rashford in the coming days.

Ligue 1 side Monaco are the latest European team to contact Marcus Rashford. Monaco, who currently sit third in Ligue 1 and have a chance of qualifying for the Champions League, have called Marcus Rashford's brother in the last 48 hours.

And the most surprising thing is that Manchester United's next opponent, Arsenal, has also contacted the Red Devils' hierarchy for Rashford. The team has recently lost winger Bukayo Saka and their results are in flux, leaving manager Mikel Arteta under intense pressure.

Speaking at his pre-FA Cup press conference on Friday, Arteta said of the transfer: "If you want to bring in players, you have to be someone who can influence the team. Signing new players doesn't help, they have to be plug-and-play players who bring something missing to the team. In the winter window market, this is very difficult to achieve. We're always talking about how we can improve the team, whether the market is on or off, always. We have to plan what we need now and what we need in the long term. The situation has changed, we have some important players injured, so there is always a possibility of reinforcements, but it has to be players who will help us get better."

Although Manchester United is ostensibly priced at £40 million, Italian media claim that Rashford can actually be acquired for only €25 million (£20 million). In the case of a lend-lease, the negotiations will revolve around who is willing to bear as much as possible. The other option is merit-related, with Rashford paying more based on appearances, goals scored and the team's ranking.

Marcus Rashford has not featured for the Reds since December, having suffered a 3-2 defeat at Nottingham Forest. The Red Devils did not take part in pre-match training this week and was noncommittal about his availability for Arsenal: "We'll see, let's focus on the game, they can play, they're training and we'll see the squad options for the game."