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.
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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.
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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.
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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…
KSI reveals the names who turned him down before booking Misfits fight in Manchester
Danny Jones
Social media star turned musician and boxer KSI has revealed a laundry list of names he wanted to fight instead of his upcoming opponent at the latest Misfits Boxing match in Manchester.
KSI’s next bout against mixed martial artist and multiple-time jiu-jitsu world champion Dillon Danis was officially booked at the start of this month, with the fight just a little over a month and a half away.
The advent of celebrity/influencer boxing isn’t going anywhere – if anything it’s only getting more and more popular as time goes on – and the clamour for the recent Misfits franchise here in the UK is only further proof of that.
However, the promotion doesn’t have all of the pulling power it would hope to at present, as KSI revealed that he didn’t get his first choice of fighter when it came to picking an opponent – in fact, he claims Dillon Danis was actually his fifth choice overall.
KSI reveals all the opponents that declined to fight him in March and why he ended up fighting Dillon Danis 😳
As you can see in the clip above, taken from his most recent YouTube upload in which he discussed fellow celebrity boxer and influencer Jake Paul‘s potential fight against Canelo Alvarez was called off, the 31-year-old insisted that Danis was a backup.
“You guys always say that my opponents have been terrible but how many people pull out? I don’t think you understand how many people pull out of fighting me”, he began.
“Even with this fight, I know I’m not even allowed to say it but f*** it. Dillon Danis wasn’t even my fourth choice. We went to Nate Diaz, he said no; we went to Donald Cerrone, he said no; We went to Tony Ferguson: he said no. These guys said no to me.
“Even [Jorge] Masvidal [said no] – we went to Masvidal to fight. He can’t do it because of the UFC. Guys, we’ve been trying to find people to fight.”
Is this just some early and casual form of trash-talking from KSI? Maybe, but we know lots of these big conversations happen as proven by the younger Paul brother’s fight against Mike Tyson actually coming to fruition late last year.
There were talks for a rematch against Tommy Fury too.Dillon Danis during his weigh-in against Logan Paul.KSI is set to fight Dillon Danis in Manchester next month. (Credit: The Manc Group/Ghazi Twaissi via Wikimedia Commons)
Even bringing up the discussion of a potential match-up against Darren Till following his fight against Tommy Fury falling through, he said that the Liverpool-born MMA and former Muay Thai fighter likely wouldn’t be willing to meet the ‘rehydration clause’, which essentially restricts a fighter’s weight limit.
So, for now, Danis it will have to be.
General admission for KSI vs Dillon Danis on 29 March and will be streamed live on the DAZN app and platform – will you be tuning in at home?
You can watch his full video speaking ahead of the fight HERE and grab your tickets down below:
KSI VS DILLON DANIS: UNFINISHED BUSINESS‼️ TICKETS NOW ON SALE‼️
Featured Images — KSI (screenshot via YouTube)/Press Shot (supplied via AO Arena)
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Noel Gallagher says he had to ‘switch off’ Kendrick Lamar’s ‘nonsense’ Super Bowl performance
Danny Jones
Noel Gallagher has revealed he wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of the Kendrick Lamar Halftime Show at this year’s Super Bowl.
In case you’ve been living under a giant American football-shaped rock over the last few days, US rapper Kendrick Lamar enjoyed a much bigger second bite at what was already a bit of a ‘break-the-internet’ moment this past Sunday.
Having been chosen to headline Super Bowl LIX, the 37-year-old’s provocative performance during the Halftime Show had plenty of political messaging and made one VERY big and not-so-subtle statement about fellow feuding rapper Drake, sending those watching and reacting on social media into a frenzy.
That being said, despite being the most-watched Halftime Show in the event’s history, not everyone was so keen on it and one of those people, it turns out, was Manchester’s very own Noel Gallagher.
Noel perfrming at Wythenshawe Park.Kendrick’s Super Bowl meme sent round the world.
Speaking on to talkSPORT ahead of Manchester City’s Champions League game against Real Madrid on Tuesday night (which didn’t exactly go to plan…), the Oasis singer, songwriter and lead guitarist was asked if he was a fan of the Super Bowl, to which he revealed he’s been watching the NFL for some time.
With host Andy Goldstein then searching for his opinion on Kendrick and the Halftime Show, Noel began by saying, simply: “I had to switch it off…
“It was absolute nonsense”, said Gallagher, admitting that while he refused to watch all of it, he was initially confused by “like 300 people getting out of a car for the first two minutes.”
He went on to add that it wasn’t necessarily a personal thing against the hip-hop star that he just doesn’t usually rate “the halftime nonsense”, claiming that “it’s usually artists I don’t like.” When asked about his favourite past Super Bowl Halftime performances.
Truth be told, he said he never typically watches it anyway, insisting that he’s “not interested” in the over-the-top spectacle that $10-20 million and often comes under criticism for its artist selection.
We’d like to imagine a world where the older Gallagher brother and ‘King Kenny’ have nothing but mutual respect and admiration for their respective music careers but it’s fair to say he isn’t keen on the Halftime Show shenanigans.
Don’t hold your breath for a surprise Oasis appearance at next year’s Super Bowl.
You can watch Kendrick Lamar’s performance in full HERE or to see it broken down in more detail, check out the video down below: