After being sidelined for nearly two months, the Marcus Rashford saga looks to have finally concluded and the boyhood Manchester United fan and youth product turned first-team talisman looks set to be leaving on loan.
Having worn the red of Man United for more than two decades, going from a young boy signed to the youth academy at just seven to becoming a first-team start and Old Trafford’s number 10, Rashford looked destined to be a one-club man.
Nevertheless, after an evident rift with the new manager Ruben Amorim, it appears as though the Manchester-born winger has made his decision and will leave United in a somewhat surprising loan deal to a fellow Premier League competitor.
After emerging as an interested party late in the January window, Aston Villa have seemingly secured the services of Rashford loan until the end of the season, but this could also mean the door to a permanent exit opening.
🚨🟣🔵 Marcus Rashford to Aston Villa, here we go!
Agreement in place on loan deal with over 70% salary covered by Villa.
Buy option clause worth £40m also included in contract with potential three year and half deal to follow.
Being given the ‘here we go!’ seal of approval by reliable transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Rashford now has an official medical booked for Sunday, 2 February to seal the deal before the deadline.
As detailed by Romano, while the switch is only on loan at present, it is believed that an option to buy clause has been included, with various reports valuing the transfer around £40-45 million.
One of the obstacles in resolving Rashford’s situation in the event of his departure has always been his salary as the club’s second-highest earner on around £300,000 a week.
However, Villa are set to cover over 70% of his wages with the understanding that a three-and-a-half-year permanent contract could be agreed following the initial loan.
Amorim has reiterated that his side, overall, is a better outfit with talents like Rashford in it but there has clearly been an issue regarding effort and application in training, telling media “he has to change” to be a part of his team.
🗣️ "He has to change"
Ruben Amorim discusses the situation with Marcus Rashford if he does not secure a move away from Manchester United 🔴 pic.twitter.com/2mxueRKiT6
With the likes of Alejandro Garnacho having also looked to be on the verge of potentially leaving the club after both he and Rashford were first dropped as a duo, the youngster has instead manager to work his way back into matchday squads and notched an assist in United’s last game in the Europa League.
That being said, although it looks like Garnacho might now stay at Old Trafford and has clearly come to a resolution with his coach, many supporters are still in disbelief at how Rashford’s relationship with Amorim has broken down so quickly.
Having scored 138 goals and registered 63 assists across 426 appearances for the club in just under 10 years as a senior star following his breakthrough season in 2015/16, Rashford in red is all he and the fans have ever known.
A school note of his that has surfaced online says it all:
Marcus Rashford's note from when he was in school…
Darts returns to Manchester as Premier League dates are confirmed for 2026
Danny Jones
The schedule for the 2026 Premier League Darts tour has been officially announced, with the PDC’s annual championship returning to Manchester once again.
PDC Premier League fixtures continue to grow in popularity both in TV figures and live match attendance, with a whole new generation of fans getting into ‘the arrows’.
Just as it has for decades now, league darts is coming back to Manchester city centre and the legendary AO Arena once again, with our date landing right in the middle of the season.
Booking a big night right in the middle of a crucial period in the competition? It sounds like 0161 is set to welcome another blockbuster night up at the oche.
Confirmed on Thursday, 11 September, next year’s PDC Premier League Darts campaign will get underway in February, spanning the course of four months and eight countries.
Of the European cities on the circuit, the tournament will be heading to Belgium for the very first time, as the AFAS Dome in Antwerp replaces Exeter.
Elsewhere on the continent, there are two other mainland evenings in Germany and the Netherlands, along with multiple Northern dates here in the UK, such as Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield.
As for Manchester, we’ve been selected for round nine of 17 (including the finals), with the AO Arena set to welcome multiple favoured competitors from the North West, including 18-year-old phenomenon Luke Little from down the road in Warrington, as well as Stockport’s very own Nathan Aspinall.
It was an unforgettable experience for Aspinall last time around in his local event, as he finally managed to win a PDC Premier League night on home turf for the first time in his career.
Those hoping to enjoy a night of darts in front of a Manchester crowd on April 26, 2026, still have to be patient for now, as general admission is still a little way off.
However, if you are interested, you can sign up for the AO’s newsletter to find out more information and get yourself on the waiting list early.
Better, if you go straight through the PDC, you can throw your hat in the ring for the presale window right now and be first in line to grab tickets when they go live.
You can do so HERE and, until then, get your signs and fancy dress at the ready because we’ll be heading back to the ‘boring, boring tables’ soon enough.
See the 2026 PDC Premier League Darts schedule in full down below:
Manchester City said no to a pretty significant player swap with Liverpool last year
Danny Jones
Manchester City reportedly rejected a transfer proposal involving swapping one of their youngest and most exciting stars with close rivals Liverpool in 2024
This could have proved to be an interesting one…
Man City aren’t exactly short on forwards at the moment and have brought in plenty of attacking options over the past year, and with Erling Haaland breaking all manner of records up front for them, they didn’t find it too hard to sell on another promising young striker in Julián Álvarez for a club record sale.
However, as per recent claims made by a Telegraph Sport journalist, there was a possibility of Álvarez swapping the blue of City for the red of Liverpool.
🚨🚨| In summer 2024, when Liverpool realised Luis Díaz wanted to join Man City, their recruitment team proposed the Colombian to the Etihad Stadium in exchange for Julián Alvarez. Man City said: “We don’t sell to rivals." Liverpool said: “Neither do we then."
That’s according to football writer Chris Bascombe, anyway, who recently wrote that the two Premier League sides could have engaged in a player swap deal were the division’s then Treble-winners willing to negotiate with the only other team that has really contested the title with them in recent years.
As you can see, Bascombe states that Luis Díaz wanted a switch to the Etihad Stadium even before the current English champions shuffled their front three.
This has been backed up by The Times’ Paul Joyce as well, who says that the Colombian winger was ultimately “unsettled” by interest from City and others
Díaz (who recently signed for Bayern Munich) made it clear he wanted to play under Pep Guardiola, and it seems there was at least some willingness from the Merseyside outfit.
Provided they get an increasingly wantaway Julián Álvarez in return.
With Haaland having been brought in and making himself comfortably the go-to number nine for what could very well be the next decade, they clearly saw an opportunity to offer him an alternative, but Man City simply said, “We don’t sell to rivals.”
Ultimately, the now 25-year-old World Cup winner went to Europe, joining Atletico Madrid for a whopping £81.5m.
Regardless, it seems hard to imagine not only two top-flight English teams doing a deal like this but to picture what it would have been like to see Álvarez, who was still very highly thought of among a large section of supporters, being cheered on by the fans inside Anfield.
The Argentinian striker – though he has been utilised in a variety of positions at the top end of the pitch – has well and truly shone in La Liga, and now looks like he could be set to swap Madrid for Barcelona.
Álvarez has apparently made it clear to those closest to him that he wants Barca, and despite the summer window closing, the Catalan giants could pursue a deal to sign him next year when his contract expires, or indeed, even go after him this January.
Meanwhile, after bringing in plenty of new talent over the past few months, with Manchester City now effectively being given the green light to proceed with a major commercial sponsorship deal, you could very well see yet more big money being spent in seasons to come.
Danny Jones -
2nd February 2025 
