Marcus Rashford Set to Rejoin Manchester United's Pre-Season Tour
Marcus Rashford is on course to rejoin Manchester United’s pre-season tour in Ireland, with the forward expected to link up with Michael Carrick’s squad in time for the friendly against Leeds United in Dublin on August 12, according to The Guardian.
If it happens, it will feel like the start of a new chapter to a story that has already taken some sharp turns.
From Frozen Out to Front of House Again
Rashford has not kicked a ball for United since December 2024, when he started a 2-1 Europa League win away to Viktoria Plzen. Ruben Amorim substituted him on 56 minutes that night. It turned out to be more than a routine change. Rashford never played for the club again under the Portuguese coach, ultimately finding himself frozen out of the squad altogether.
The response was to move him on. First came a loan to Aston Villa, then another to Barcelona. It was in Catalonia that his career flickered back into something like its old shape. He scored 14 goals for Barça, including the clincher in their title-sealing win over Real Madrid in May – a moment that underlined he can still decide big games on the biggest stages.
Barcelona, though, chose not to activate their purchase option. Instead, they turned to Anthony Gordon, signing the winger from Newcastle for £60.7m. The door that had looked wide open for Rashford in La Liga quietly closed.
At the same time, a £40m Premier League exit clause in his United contract expired without a buyer in early July. United have since ruled out another loan to Barcelona and are unwilling to sell below their valuation. With two years left on a deal worth around £17.5m a year, Rashford suddenly finds himself with no obvious escape route.
So the road leads back to Manchester – and to Carrick.
Carrick, Not Amorim: A Different Dynamic
The dynamic this time is different. There are no reported issues between Rashford and Michael Carrick, a clear contrast to the breakdown that marked his relationship with Amorim.
Tribal Football reported earlier this month that Carrick is open to working with the forward, and discussions over Rashford’s pre-season status have been ongoing inside the club. United’s stance is pragmatic: they remain open to a permanent sale at the right price, but they also recognise that a fit, focused Rashford is an asset – on the pitch or in the market.
His schedule is dictated by international duty. After England’s run to the World Cup semi-finals, Rashford is entitled to a mandatory three-week break. That pushes his earliest possible return to around August 10. The timing makes the Dublin date with Leeds at Croke Park the first realistic window for Carrick to use him.
If Rashford boards that plane, it will mark his first step back into a United shirt since that night in Plzen.
Dublin, Wroclaw and a Shop Window Summer
United’s pre-season has already been heavy on air miles and mixed opposition: Wrexham in Helsinki, Rosenborg in Trondheim, Atlético Madrid in Stockholm, PSG in Gothenburg. Ireland is next, with Leeds in Dublin on August 12, followed by AC Milan in Wroclaw on August 15. A week after that, United travel to Hull to begin their Premier League season.
Within that schedule, Dublin stands out. It is the logical starting point for Rashford’s reintegration – a game with enough edge to matter, but with just enough distance from the Premier League opener to manage his minutes carefully.
Then comes Milan in Wroclaw. That fixture offers Carrick a sterner test of where Rashford is, physically and mentally, against top-level opposition. It also offers the club something else: a shop window. Two strong performances, in front of full stadiums and with the market still open, could yet stir late interest in a player whose talent has never really been in question.
United’s preference is clear: a permanent sale at the right price. For now, that price has not been met. Until it is, Carrick has a high-earning, high-ceiling forward on his hands and a decision to make about how boldly he leans into the idea of a Rashford reboot.
The next move belongs to the player. Will Dublin be the start of his United redemption, or the final audition before the curtain falls on his Old Trafford career?
