Marcus Rashford finds himself in a difficult position as the January transfer window reaches its conclusion.

Manchester United's once star player now finds himself firmly out of favour and desiring an exit from the club. His preferred choice would be to move to Barcelona and who can blame him considering the size of the club and the lifestyle he could have in Catalonia.

Barca are also receptive to striking this deal but unfortunately for Rashford, MEN Sport understands they are not keen on completing that deal before Monday's deadline. Instead, their desire would be to wait until the summer and sign him permanently.

The only problem with this plan is that Rashford would remain without first-team football between now and the end of the season unless he could bury the hatchet with Ruben Amorim. If that option is off the table, things are looking bleak for the winger between now and the end of the season.

However, there is a potential silver lining for the forward. His old boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is back in employment with Besiktas in Turkey.

Their transfer window remains open a week longer than most of Europe giving United enough time to secure a deal with Solskjaer. What's more, Rashford has previously spoken highly of his former manager telling Sky Sports he respected him 100 per cent after he was sacked in 2021.

The new issue here is that Rashford does not want to move to Turkey. At the beginning of the transfer window, MEN Sport reported that the winger was keen on a 'career driven move' which meant that Turkey was not an option.

But the optics of moving to Besiktas or one of their rivals change considerably in this new scenario. The offer on the table would be a loan until the end of the season where Rashford can retain his match fitness and put himself in the shop window for a move to Barcelona in the summer.

The alternative at this stage would be to continue moping out of the first-team picture at United and potentially rule himself out of a move to Barcelona at the end of the season. Returning to Solskjaer could keep his La Liga dream alive but Rashford needs to U-turn quickly to make it happen.

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