Three Barcelona players 'told club not to sign Marcus Rashford' before Man Utd forward joined Aston Villa

At least three Barcelona players told the club not to sign Marcus Rashford from Manchester United before his loan move to Aston Villa, it has been claimed - but he was not the only potential signing involved.

Rashford signed for Villa on a loan deal until the end of the season on Sunday after being exiled from the United side for nearly two months by manager Ruben Amorim.

The 27-year-old could join Villa permanently at the end of the campaign, as the Midlands club have the option to buy the forward for a reported £40 million fee.

Prior to that move, Rashford was linked with the likes of Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan, though none of those moves materialised.

Barca was, in particular, always going to be a complex case due to their financial issues, which has left them struggling to register existing players such as Dani Olmo.

Attempting to add new players to their salary cap - which has been severely restricted by La Liga in recent seasons - would have caused further difficulties.

And according to SPORT, a number of Barca players raised concerns over the signing of Rashford as it would have meant swiftly offloading one of the current members of the squad.

Marcus Rashford signed for Aston Villa instead of Barcelona (Image: Getty)

The Spanish outlet added that this concern did not extend specifically to Rashford only, but to any potential signings the club could have made in the closing stages of the window.

Pedri, Gavi and Ronald Araujo - who have all extended their contracts with Barca in recent months - are named in the report as players that were concerned, but there were reportedly other names involved.

After moving to Aston Villa instead of Barca, Rashford will now hope for a strong end to the season.

He could face Barcelona in the latter stages of the Champions League this season, with both clubs having already qualified for the last 16 stage of the competition.