Barcelona and Real Madrid to battle it out for €65 million Manchester United superstar, Chelsea and AC Milan to pull off stunning swap deal and more: Transfer Roundup, 23 December 2018

By Shambhu Ajith

Modified Dec 23, 2018 13:15 GMT

This is one signing that could tip the scales in Barcelona's favour

Barcelona ready to rival Real Madrid and launch a bid for Marcus Rashford

Marcus Rashford was on fire for Manchester United against Cardiff

Barcelona are looking to find a suitable replacement for the ageing Luis Suarez. To that end, they have now compiled a dossier on the Manchester United forward and are ready to launch a bid to sign him, according to The Daily Express.

Real Madrid are also looking for a striker who can take over from Karim Benzema. Los Blancos have hence been keeping tabs on Marcus Rashford whose future seems uncertain at Old Trafford.

The youngster's growth had stagnated under Jose Mourinho's regime. The report claims that the Mancunian could look for an exit if things do not significantly change for the better under caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Marcus Rashford scored a stunning freekick from 25 yards out in Solskjaer's first game as Manchester United manager and looks set to play a crucial role as another rebuilding project takes shape at Old Trafford and hence, prising him away could prove to be a difficult task.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Sripad