Marcus Rashford and Man United face transfer conundrum amid £113.2m question

Manchester United host Bournemouth on Sunday and Ruben Amorim's teamsheet could provide the latest clue in the future of Marcus Rashford.

The frontman seems likely to leave having spoken of his desire for a new challenge on the back of being left out of the squad for the derby day win over Manchester City last weekend. Rashford's interview on Tuesday came ahead of the Carabao Cup tie with Tottenham, when he was again absent, but Alejandro Garnacho - also omitted for the derby - was back in the fold and featured off the bench.

Amorim explained his decision to leave out Rashford and Garnacho at the Etihad, saying: "It's important the performance in training, the performance in-game, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you engage with teammates, the way you push your teammates."

If the England international's absence extends to a third game then an exit seems increasingly likely.

The big question is where and how do United make it work? There is no obvious market for the frontman at the price the Reds would desire. It is difficult to see anyone paying in excess of £50million for him outside of the Premier League apart from PSG, and the French club have repeatedly distanced themselves from such transfer talk in recent months.

Plenty of Premier League clubs have the financial power to sign Rashford but it's difficult to envisage a Liverpool or Manchester City making a move. Arsenal need a central striker but Rashford prefers to play off the left, while Chelsea are seemingly a bit more settled under Enzo Maresca. Clubs in Saudi Arabia could pay the money - but would Rashford want to head there at the age of 27?

So amid the diminishing options, United could be forced into one of two actions: Sell him in a cut-price deal or facilitate a loan.

Neither is ideal for the Reds who reported a net loss of £113.2m in the year to June 30 and are treading a profit and sustainability rules tightrope when it comes to buying and selling.

Under Premier League rules, clubs cannot lose more than £105m over a three-year period and United remain compliant, while any exit for Rashford would be 100 per cent profit under the PSR rules because he is an Academy graduate.

A loan move, which would open up a significant number of potential buyers for Rashford across Europe, would likely leave United still paying a chunk of his reported £350,000 a week salary. Yet an exit on the cheap would show United are still failing to learn their lesson when it comes to selling players having made significant losses and attracted far less than a maximum market value on a host of big names over the past few seasons.

Whatever happens over the coming weeks or months, Amorim, United and Rashford don't seem to have an obvious solution to what could become a long-running transfer saga.