Marcus Rashford's Role in Roma and Manchester United Talks for Manu Kone

Marcus Rashford’s name has entered the conversation in talks between Roma and Manchester United over Manu Kone – but that’s about as far as the story is likely to go.

Italian reports say the England forward was mentioned as a potential makeweight as United explore a deal for Kone, who enhanced his reputation with an eye-catching World Cup in 2026 for France. Roma know they are sitting on a valuable asset. They also know the financial reality.

Kone, FFP and a €60m problem

Roma’s directors are working under the familiar shadow of FFP. To keep the accounts in line, at least one major sale this summer remains on the table, and Kone is the obvious candidate. La Gazzetta dello Sport suggest a fee in the region of €60m could be enough to tempt the Giallorossi into cashing in.

United are in the mix. They have tracked Kone’s rise and see him as a possible midfield solution. But they are far from all-in.

According to the same report, there is no unanimous agreement inside Old Trafford that Kone is worth Roma’s current valuation. €60m is viewed as heavy, even in a market where prices rarely make sense. United are expected to keep pushing, probing for a discount rather than simply paying what Roma want.

That is where Rashford’s name has surfaced.

Rashford in the talks – on paper only

La Gazzetta dello Sport report that United could look to include Rashford in negotiations, at least as a theoretical option to help bridge the gap in valuations. On the face of it, the idea is dramatic: a homegrown England international, still in his prime years, heading to Serie A as part of a blockbuster swap.

Scratch the surface and the whole concept starts to unravel.

Rashford’s contract is the first, and biggest, obstacle. His net salary is reported at around €10m per season, plus bonuses worth roughly another €2.5m. Those numbers would not just nudge him to the top of the Serie A pay scale – they would put him there by a distance.

For Roma, already juggling FFP constraints, that kind of wage commitment is a non-starter without major concessions from United.

So the conversation shifts to structure. Roma, the reports say, would only even contemplate a deal on an initial loan, not a permanent transfer. Even then, United would be expected to cover a significant portion of Rashford’s salary to make the move remotely viable.

That, in turn, feels improbable from United’s point of view. Letting a high-value asset leave on loan, while still paying a large chunk of his wages, just to ease talks over a player they are not fully convinced about at €60m, does not align with the financial logic they are trying to impose on their squad rebuild.

Reality bites for Roma

On Roma’s side, the calculation is just as stark. Selling Kone would bring in a substantial fee, help settle FFP concerns and give them room to reshape the squad. Taking on Rashford, even temporarily, would mean re-engineering their wage structure around one player, and doing so for a forward whose long-term future would remain tied to another club.

The idea of Rashford in the Stadio Olimpico, leading the line in Serie A, is a compelling image. For now, it lives mostly in the realm of speculation rather than strategy.

United will keep talking to Roma about Kone. Roma will keep listening, because €60m is a powerful argument. But unless something dramatic shifts on the financial side, Rashford’s role in these negotiations looks destined to stay where it started: on the margins of a deal that still has more questions than answers.