Marcus Rashford has two games to change 'not a priority' view to land perfect Man United transfer

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It doesn't take much of an imagination to picture Marcus Rashford lining up against Aston Villa in the Champions League next month rather than playing for them against Paris St-Germain in a mouth-watering quarter-final.

Rashford's camp flirted with PSG on several occasions during his United career, most notably when his brother Dwaine held a meeting with PSG officials in August 2022. At that time, he had less than a year left on his contract, with the option for a further year.

United weren't interested in doing business, and Rashford went on to have his best season for the club, earning that £350,000-a-week, five-year contract, but then never hit those heights again.

The Paris rendezvous in 2022 further soured relations between Rashford and his boyhood club, and Ruben Amorim drew a line in the sand towards the end of last year. A reunion now looks almost impossible, and the 27-year-old academy graduate will almost certainly be sold permanently this summer.

But for all the flirtations with PSG, that was never the club Rashford wanted. Despite moving there mid-season and finding some form, it wasn't Villa either. It was Barcelona and has always been Barcelona, but with the La Liga giants drowning under a mountain of debt, pulling enough levers to make it happen in January was never realistic.

"The winter market is always difficult. It's true that in the past, there have been important moments for Barca, like the arrival of [Edgar] Davids, but there is no Davids available today in the market," said Barcelona's sporting director Deco.

"It's tough because the good players, those who can contribute, are not available. It's true that Rashford was talked about, and he could have come, but we weren’t desperately looking for a player.

"We knew we were recovering players, and others were getting closer to their best versions. If he could have come, it would’ve been nice, but it wasn't a priority."

If Rashford still has his heart set on Barcelona - and let's face it, which footballer doesn't - then changing Deco's mind is his target between now and the end of the season. He has to move from the 'not a priority' list to the priority list for the former Portuguese midfielder.

He has made an encouraging start on that front. United are certainly encouraged by the enjoyment he looks to be getting from his football again and the good it is doing in terms of a market for his own future.

What he does need is goals, the currency every forward is judged on, even one playing on the left for Villa and playing second fiddle to Ollie Watkins. Marco Asensio joined on loan in January as well and as lively as Rashford has been, he has zero goals to the Spaniard's seven.

If Villa were only to keep one this summer, they would struggle to make a case for Rashford over Asensio. But the former can try and impress again for England on Monday night, and even more importantly, he needs to grab the Champions League quarter-finals by the scruff of the neck.

Those two fixtures - and the semi-finals and beyond if Villa progress - will be the games that attract the most attention between now and the end of the season. They are the kind of games on which decisions are made by clubs about elite footballers.

If Rashford wants to keep his Nou Camp dream alive - and boost United's chances of a tidy profit this summer - he has to perform in Paris on April 9 and back in Birmingham on April 15.

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