Manchester United was offered a mega-transfer swap deal.
A Marcus Rashford swap deal was put forward to Manchester United. (Image: Getty)
Ollie Watkins is a striker, and Manchester United was previously told that only £100 million and Marcus Rashford would be needed to pry him from Aston Villa. However, with Gareth Southgate’s England squad possessing strength in depth, there’s a chance the player won’t even make it to Euro 2024.
Watkins has scored 19 goals in the Premier League, more than only Erling Haaland, Cole Palmer, and Alexander Isak combined. However, his seat on the plane is far from guaranteed. The Three Lions’ attack will be led by Captain Harry Kane, but Southgate’s remaining options up front will confound the former Middlesbrough manager.
UEFA has confirmed that the squad sizes have been increased from 23 to 26 players. Despite this, Watkins, Ivan Toney, and Dominic Solanke are all contenders for a spot in the squad, with at least one likely to miss out.
Watkins currently has 11 caps for England, but he might not pick up more at the Euros after Manchester United learned of the outrageous cost to sign the 28-year-old. Prior to selecting Rasmus Hojlund as their starting forward, rumors had it that United was interested in Watkins.
But former Villa striker Stan Collymore was quick to play down their chances of signing Unai Emery’s forward, suggesting that only a nine-figure fee and Rashford combined would be enough to land Watkins: “£100m plus Rashford. Sounds about right…” Many were initially puzzled at Collymore’s valuation of Watkins, but the former Brentford man’s clinical season has propelled Villa into fourth place, closing in on a Champions League spot and the hypothetical valuation won’t be deemed far-fetched anymore. But there is no guarantee that Watkins will get the chance to replicate his goalscoring exploits on the international stage this summer, with Southgate unable to guarantee that both he and Toney will be in the Euros squad.
In response to a question in March about whether there would be room for the two strikers, Southgate said, “Maybe, maybe not. I genuinely don’t know the answer to that.” “That will depend on what kind of profile we need, what the profiles of the rest of the squad [members] are, whether we need a couple of players that are adaptable in a couple of positions that means we can pick specialists in certain other positions.” “I think we feel that Ivan is one of the contenders in that role, so [it is] important to bring him back in and be able to work with him again. Ollie is having an incredible season with Aston Villa and is a player in excellent form. I have to say Unai has done an excellent job with Villa, an
