Gary Lineker has made his feelings clear on the idea of Barcelona forward Marcus Rashford playing for Manchester United again if Michael Carrick remains at the club.
Marcus Rashford has impressed at the Camp Nou after the 28-year-old on-loan Manchester United forward left Old Trafford and moved to Barcelona last summer.
The United talent has netted 14 times and registered 14 assists in 47 matches across all competitions for Barcelona during his season-long loan at the La Liga club.
Barcelona have the option to make Rashford’s move permanent to the Camp Nou, with Man Utd including a £30.3m transfer option fee as part of the deal.
Marcus Rashford evidently does not want to return to Man Utd – There is no way back for him surely?!
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Former Barcelona striker Gary Lineker refuses to rule out a Marcus Rashford and Michael Carrick link-up at Man Utd
Michael Carrick was in the tail end of his playing career when Marcus Rashford emerged from the Manchester United youth academy and broke into the first team.
The 44-year-old United legend later coached Barcelona star Rashford when he worked under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s managerial reign at the Premier League club.
Carrick’s brief caretaker spell after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Man Utd sacking in 2021 also saw the former England midfielder managing Rashford at the Red Devils.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Gary Lineker cannot fully rule out Rashford playing for United again if Carrick were appointed permanently.
“And if he doesn’t go, will he? I think there’ll be clubs looking to snap him up, to be perfectly honest, at that sort of price tag, considering what you get for your money nowadays, because I think it’d be difficult for him to go back to Manchester United,” he said.
“Although I can see it, if with, you know, Michael Carrick, who I’m sure he respects and, you know, [Ruben] Amorim is not there anymore, who clearly, you know, they didn’t see eye to eye.
“But so, you know, it’ll be interesting to see what happens there. A lot of star players, star performances this season for Barcelona.”
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Gary Lineker thinks Man Utd and Barcelona star Marcus Rashford is in the prime of his career now
Lineker spotlighted Rashford’s age amid his Barcelona form and the former England striker thinks that the on-loan Man Utd talent still has a long career ahead of him.
“He’s 28, Marcus, 29 [in] October,” he said.
“So, I think, I mean, he’s in his prime. And obviously, in my time, you’d have gone 28, 29, you’d have been slightly nervous about, you know, extending a long contract or something.
“But I think nowadays, you know, the new 32 is 35, probably, at least with some players, a lot more.
“So, yeah, I think he’s still got some great years left in him. He’s certainly not been overplayed, like a lot of players. So that will be in his favour.”
Rashford lost his place in the Man Utd starting XI in the 2024-25 Premier League season after falling down the pecking order under Ruben Amorim.
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