Arsenal study Marcus Rashford route as Barcelona stall on €30 million buy clause
Arsenal have re-entered the Marcus Rashford conversation. With Barcelona dragging their feet on the €30 million buy clause that would make his loan permanent, the Gunners are studying a route to Manchester United's 28-year-old winger this summer, according to reports out of Catalonia and London on Wednesday.
Rashford spent the season at Camp Nou and ended up giving Hansi Flick exactly the kind of campaign Barcelona needed when they signed him: 46 appearances, 13 goals and 14 assists, mostly from the left. Barcelona want him to stay. They are not sure they can pay for him.
The June 15 clause Barcelona keep edging away from
The mechanics of this one are clean enough. Rashford joined Barcelona on a season-long loan from United in July 2025 with an option to make the deal permanent at €30 million, payable in three instalments of €10 million across 2026, 2027 and 2028. The clause has a hard deadline of June 15.
Barca's preferred outcome is a second loan year. United have already pushed back on that, with sources at Old Trafford telling reporters they have no intention of negotiating a new arrangement: trigger the clause or send him back. La Liga's salary-cap controls have made the cash-up-front piece harder than the headline number suggests, and Lamine Yamal's injury rehab has tied up some of the squad budget Barcelona were planning to free up.
The longer Joan Laporta and Deco hold off on triggering, the more time other clubs get to start whispering. Wednesday's reports are the most concrete sign yet that they have started.
Why Arsenal, and why now
Arsenal have been open since January about wanting another senior left-sided attacker behind Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, and Mikel Arteta watched Rashford up close in late 2024 before the Barcelona move took the option off the table. The interest never fully went away. With Rashford's contract status going wobbly, the door is at least cracked.
The Gunners are also in a stronger negotiating position than they have been in years. They reached a Champions League final on Tuesday with Bukayo Saka's winner against Atletico Madrid, the club's first since 2006, and they will face PSG at the Puskas Arena on May 30. A Champions League final pitch carries weight with players in this tier.
Bayern Munich are circling too, but their squad-rebuild priorities sit elsewhere after a season in which Vincent Kompany has leaned heavily on Harry Kane and Michael Olise. Arsenal feel like the more obvious destination if Rashford does end up on the market.
United's calculation, and Rashford's
The Manchester United side of this is straightforward. Michael Carrick's permanent appointment as head coach has clarified what United want their squad to look like next season, and a 28-year-old who has been on loan abroad and was last seen training away from the first team in early 2025 is not part of the rebuild. United want him sold, not loaned again, and the €30 million clause is the floor.
If Barcelona don't activate the clause and another club doesn't match it, Rashford technically returns to Old Trafford. He has been clear with people around him that he wants to stay in Spain and keep working under Flick. That is not the same as having a say in where he ends up if Barcelona walk away.
The next ten days will tell most of the story. Either Barcelona find a way to make the €30 million work in instalments, or Arsenal and others decide the price is right for a player who has just delivered a 27-goal-contribution season at the Camp Nou.
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