A very silly report has claimed that FC Barcelona have decided to include Marcus Rashford in a swap deal with La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid.

Rashford?joined Barcelona on loan with an option to buy for around ￡26m from Premier League giants Man Utd in the summer.

The England international secured his dream move to the Spanish giants after returning to form during his loan spell at Aston Villa at the end of last season.

Barcelonawere linked with alternatives, but they opted to take a punt on Rashford after missing out on Luis Diaz and Nico Williams, with the forward’s versatility attracting head coach Hansi Flick.

Rashford was only expected to be a bit-part player for Barcelona, but his great form has forced Flick into playing him consistently, as he has sparkled this season. He has six goals and eleven assists in his 21 appearances across all competitions.

READ:?Big Weekend: Sunderland v Newcastle, Aston Villa, Xavi Simons, Oliver Glasner

Therefore, it feels pretty likely that Rashford will join Barcelona permanently, though a new report from an outlet in Spain claims they have an ‘unexpected alternative’ in mind.

Instead, Barcelona are said to have an outlandish plan to sign and offload Rashford in the same window, with the club reportedly including him in a ￡61m [70 million euros] swap deal with Atletico Madrid to sign former Manchester City star Julian Alvarez.

Will this happen? No. But who would we be if we faulted their imagination?

The report goes onto say that the ‘conditions are set’ for this deal, with a ￡61m fee and Rashford said to be used by Barcelona to acquire Alvarez.

MUST-READ FEATURES ON F365…
*? Gallagher for Mainoo at Man Utd is swapping one Bruno Fernandes backup for another
*? Arsenal title, Wolves proper start, Man Utd top six – revisiting our 25/26 Premier League targets
*? Ranking the 20 biggest PL summer transfers as Gyokeres falls below Wirtz

The report explains: ‘Atlético Madrid haven’t ruled out signing the English striker if Julián álvarez ultimately ends up at Barcelona. Diego Simeone greatly appreciates Rashford ‘s profile, particularly his speed and directness in exploiting space from any attacking area. For the Argentine coach, acquiring a player of that calibre would be a way to compensate for such a significant loss as that of the Argentine striker.

‘Thus, Atlético has set its conditions. They value Julián álvarez at €120 million and Rashford at around €50 million, which is why they are demanding an additional €70 million for the deal to move forward and be finalised.’

Regarding Rashford’s resurgence over the past year, former Man Utd player West Brown has explained why he was “always going to do well” after leaving the Red Devils.

“Marcus Rashford was always going to do well after moving away from Manchester United. He’d been at the club for so many years and not all those years would have been enjoyable for Marcus, particularly the final couple,” Brown told BetWright Casino.

“He got a lot of stick from people towards the end of last season, so I don’t blame him for making a change, and I think his departure suited United as well. No one thought that he was going to leave and be shocking, but he just wasn’t in the right headspace to perform at United – it wasn’t working.

“It’s great to see how well he is doing now at Barcelona, he’s absolutely flying and he deserved to get back into the England squad. I’m sure he will have a great World Cup.”