Chelsea target Man Utd star on free transfer… and it's not Ronaldo!

James Shearman

Updated: 10 Sept 2022 15:55 BST
3 min read

Cristiano Ronaldo, Man Utd, 2022-23 — © ProShots

Chelsea's owners are keeping an eye on Marcus Rashford's contract situation at Manchester United, according to reports.

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The Blues hierarchy were also interested in fellow United forward Cristiano Ronaldo this summer, before a deal for the Portugal international was vetoed by Thomas Tuchel.

Rashford struggled at Old Trafford in the last campaign, under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and then Ralf Rangnick, but looks back to his best under Erik ten Hag.

The England international has three goals and two assists in six Premier League games in the 2022-23 season.

United are keen to keep Rashford, rejecting an approach for Paris Saint-Germain in the transfer window, but his contract runs out in June 2023.

This means that he will able to speak to foreign clubs over a pre-contract deal in January, or wait until the summer to speak to domestic clubs about a move.

And there will be plenty of suitors for Rashford, especially if he keeps up the tremendous form he has shown do far season.

One of which is Chelsea, according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, who 'are not scared' of Rashford's £10.5 million per year wage demands.

Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid are also thought to be interested in the 24-year-old.

Ronaldo contributed to Tuchel sacking

Relevo reported that Thomas Tuchel and Todd Boehly disagreed over the signing of certain players, with Cristiano Ronaldo the most high profile of these.

Matteo Moretto added that Boehly had agreed a deal with Ronaldo, and everything had been agreed with Man Utd too.

This came about after a well-publicised meeting between Boehly and Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes.

Team ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/57q6AbYGyg
— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) September 7, 2022

The deal was ready to be signed and announced but Tuchel kicked up a fuss and demanded that the 27-year-old wasn’t bought.

Thus the transfer collapsed and Tuchel instead insisted on signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as his new striker.

This whole episode only added to the tension between Boehly and Tuchel, which built up throughout the summer and eventually led to the German’s sacking.