Ten Hag: Rashford will stay at Utd this summer

MANCHESTER, England — Erik ten Hag has said Manchester United intend to keep Marcus Rashford this summer despite the financial benefit that would come with sanctioning the England forward’s departure.

Moving Rashford on would boost United’s Financial Fair Play compliance because rules favour clubs that receive transfer fees for academy graduates.

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It has prompted Chelsea to consider bids for Conor Gallagher despite the England international playing a key role at Stamford Bridge this season.

United’s financial situation has been described as “tight” ahead of the summer window but Ten Hag said Rashford, who signed a new contract in July, will stay at Old Trafford.

“We did not sign him last season for four years with the intention to sell him now,” Ten Hag told a news conference on Friday.

“He should be part of this project. It is not a subject we don’t talk about.”

United face Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday looking to knock Jurgen Klopp’s side out of the FA Cup.

Ten Hag is hopeful of having Rasmus Højlund, Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka available, while Mason Mount has also returned to training after missing the last four months with a calf injury.

“We had a good week,” Ten Hag said.

“The players you mention [Højlund, Maguire and Wan-Bissaka] returned on the pitch, partly at the start of the week and today [Friday] they had a session and were all training.

“We have one more session and we have to see how they recover from this but it looks good. Mason Mount trained all week with us. He had some full sessions with us, so it’s looking good.”

Klopp is still in the hunt for four trophies in his last season at Anfield while Ten Hag is looking to land the FA Cup to save an otherwise disappointing campaign.

Liverpool, who sit second in the Premier League table, arrive on a nine-match unbeaten run but Ten Hag stopped short of saying the visitors are favourites ahead of the FA Cup quarterfinal.

“It’s a difficult one,” Ten Hag said. “I never think about who’s favourite. We will make sure we are ready and I don’t think about the opponents, it’s about making it our game. It’s about this.

“We know where the strengths are but we know it’s about us.”

The last time the two sides met was at Anfield in December, with the fierce rivals playing out a goalless draw. Klopp said he thinks his team has improved since then.

“I don’t know if we’ll play the same game [as December’s draw],” Klopp told a Friday news conference.

“We really reached the next level in the season [after that]. Before that it was difficult to judge us, we had a lot to overcome, red cards, being 1-0 down and then that game [against United] I saw it was really us in the next gear.

“The result didn’t show that. It’s a home game for them but there were a lot of aspects in our game that were good and we try to bring them on the pitch again. We might do some things differently.”