Tottenham prepare Rashford bid as £170m summer rebuild gathers pace

Tottenham have turned their attention to Marcus Rashford as part of an ambitious £170m summer rebuild, with the north London club ready to test Manchester United’s resolve with a formal offer for the England forward.

Spurs have already spent £52m on Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke and had an £80m bid for Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali rejected, but Roberto De Zerbi’s side are pressing ahead with plans to overhaul a squad that has finished 17th in the Premier League in each of the last two seasons.

United have set an asking price of £40m for Rashford, 28, after Barcelona declined to trigger the £26m purchase clause in his loan deal. The Spanish club’s decision to spend £69m on Anthony Gordon has effectively ended Rashford’s hopes of a permanent move to the Camp Nou, forcing him to weigh up alternatives.

According to The i, Spurs are unwilling to meet United’s valuation outright and will open with a lower offer to test the water. That financial gap is one of two clear hurdles facing the deal. The other is Rashford himself — the winger still has his heart set on remaining in Spain and is reluctant to return to the Premier League.

Rashford produced 14 goals and 14 assists in 49 appearances for Barca last season, a return that has attracted interest beyond Spurs. Bayern Munich have been monitoring the situation, though the Bundesliga side are currently understood to be prioritising a move for PSV’s Ismael Saibari after missing out on Gordon.

Negotiations are also likely to be slowed by Rashford’s involvement in England’s World Cup campaign. He scored in a 4-2 win over Croatia and is pushing Gordon for a starting berth in England’s upcoming group fixture against Ghana in Boston. United, meanwhile, are eager to resolve his future quickly in order to remove his £315,000-a-week wages from their books and free up funds for their own recruitment.

Rashford would need to accept a significant pay cut to complete any move away from Old Trafford, adding another layer of complexity to what is shaping up to be one of the summer’s most drawn-out transfer sagas.