Rash reality bites as wage and dip in form make striker difficult to move on

IF United thought that it would be easy to get Marcus Rashford off the books in January - or indeed in the summer - then they may well view things differently now.

- TOM COLEY

It has been three weeks since his admission that a change of scenery is needed, and very little has happened.

Offers from Saudi Arabia have come in but were swiftly rejected. There is no interest from the 27-year-old to join others in the Middle East on an early retirement with a big payday. Outside of that, it is reports and suggestions from potential suitors. There is fluff, chances, possibilities, maybes, coulds. It is typical transfer window language but there are merely scraps to feed off right now in terms of genuine exit news.

Attempts to link him with Arsenal fell flat quickly. There should be little surprise that Mikel Arteta and his side have little interest in offering top dollar for someone over 18 months removed from being on top form.

Ange Postecoglou laughed off Tottenham as a destination before it had even been properly put to him. Juventus, deemed one of the Old Money European options that could take him, have openly commented about Joshua Zirkzee before turning to Rashford.