Marcus Rashford reportedly turned down an eye-watering £400,000-a-week offer from PSG last summer.
The Manchester United star is enjoying the best goalscoring season of his career so far having been integral to Erik ten Hag‘s transformation of the club.
But last season Rashford was struggling, and PSG tried to capitalise on the fact the England star was out of sorts and entering the final year of his United deal, shortly before a one-year extension was activated.
And Rashford was made to think about his future long and hard last summer when the Ligue 1 giants made him an offer of more than £400,000 per week to join them, a report from The Athletic claims.
The report also claims United were kept in the loop with any developments from PSG’s talks with Rashford, which were considered above board.
The 25-year-old decided against moving to Ligue 1 and stayed at his boyhood club.
It turned out to be for the best for Rashford, considering he has been firing on all cylinders for club and country, and despite only having 18 months remaining on his current deal, is in talks over a new deal to stay at Old Trafford for the long term.
Had United not activated his one-year extension, Rashford would have been free to talk to clubs from overseas about joining them on a free, but the short-term extension now takes him through to the summer of 2024.
Even after Rashford rejected the substantial contract offer from PSG, the club’s chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi heaped praise on the striker during the World Cup, confirming that he had indeed had talks over a potential move.
‘We’re not hiding it, we spoke before. But the moment was not a good moment for both sides,’ Al-Khelaifi told Sky Sports before United triggered Rashford’s one-year extension.
‘Today, if he’s a free agent of course we can talk to him directly, but we are not going to talk to him now. Let him focus on the World Cup. Then, in January, hopefully, if we’re interested we will talk to him.’
He has scored 27 goals and added nine assists in 44 games in all competitions, which will see him ask for a rise on his current £200,000-a-week deal.
Considering his age, it is expected that Rashford’s next contract will be the biggest of his career which will cover his peak years.
However, United’s desire to enforce a wage cap of around £200,000 per week for new contracts – which Sportsmail first reported in January – has made the England star sit tight.
The club want to introduce this to prevent envy among the squad, with several first team stars earning vastly differing amounts in recent history.
But a report last week stated Rashford – who has scored 18 goals in 25 games since the World Cup – and his camp are holding off to see what new Manchester United owners would offer, with a Qatari group led by Sheikh Jassim and Ineos owner and Britian’s richest man Jim Ratcliffe seen as front-runners for the club.
Both have promised to spend heavily if they are given the keys to Old Trafford and that – coupled with Rashford being one of the most in-form footballers in the world currently – means he could likely secure a significantly larger sum than £200,000 per week.
However, Sportsmail understands this £200,000-per-week clause won’t apply to Rashford because he’s on a higher salary at the moment and is unlikely take a pay cut.
