Barcelona scouting three potential Marcus Rashford replacements

Barcelona may not have made a decision on whether they will try to make Marcus Rashford’s loan deal from Manchester United permanent, but they have started planning for a potential future without him. The latest from the Catalan capital is that they have identified three younger options with an upside to replace the England international.

Rashford arrived on loan from United in the summer, and Barcelona reportedly have a buy option of €30m to make the deal permanent. Providing an alternative to Raphinha on the left, Rashford remains Barcelona’s most productive player so far, with six goals and nine assists. Director of Football Deco revealed that Barcelona had not made a decision on Rashford’s future this week, following reports that the Blaugrana were edging towards not exercising their buy option.

Barcelona identify three younger alternatives

Nevertheless, Deco did also say that he was working on plans throughout the year, and Sport have revealed that Barcelona are scouting three potential alternatives for the left wing spot that could come in and develop. Recently Chief Scout Joao Amaral watched RB Leipzig’s 20-year-old winger Antonio Nusa in person during Norway Italy. The two other names that Barcelona are following most closely are Koln’s Said El Mala (19), and Olympique Lyon’s Malick Fofana (20).

Image via RB Leipzig

The financial calculations

It is worth highlighting that the motive behind Rashford’s arrival was that he could arrive on loan, following failed attempts to sign Nico Williams and Luis Diaz. One of the drawbacks of signing Rashford permanently would be his high salary, but none of their alternatives would come cheap.

Fofana was heavily linked with a move to Liverpool last summer, while Barcelona were tracking Nusa before he made a €21m switch from Club Brugge to Leipzig. In Germany, Bayern Munich have been linked with El Mala, one of the most promising players in the Bundesliga. Whatever money Barcelona might spend on Rashford’s wages, they would likely spend more in total on transfer fee for any one of the three. That said, their youth is the obvious upside long-term, but Barcelona’s salary limit will dictate whether they can afford to invest with perspective.