Aston Villa 'could sell Ezri Konsa' to pave way for Marcus Rashford deal - expert

Unai Emery may have to sacrifice first-team stars to afford Marcus Rashford if Aston Villa aren't willing to part ways with Morgan Rogers.

That is according to former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider that Rogers' future will hold the key to Villa's finances this summer.

Barcelona have decided against triggering the £26million clause in his current loan deal, forcing him to return to Manchester United ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.

The England international has already made it clear that his future lies away from Old Trafford, and the likes of Villa, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur are all keeping tabs.

It would appear that Rashford would be signed as a replacement for Rogers, who is increasingly likely to join Mikel Arteta's Arsenal, even with a deal bound to crush the supporters.

The Man United loanee clearly enjoyed his time at Villa Park in 2024-25, where he notched four goals and five assists in 17 games, and that might not be the end of his journey with the Villans.

A lot is made about Villa's finances, which often restrict them from competing in the market. Borson has suggested that players, such as Ezri Konsa, could be sacrificed because of that.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, he said: "The Villa situation is quite complicated because clearly there seems to be interest in selling Morgan Rogers.

"There is interest in selling Morgan Rogers, but Villa fans will say that's not true and they don't want to sell him. But just read between the lines.

"There seems to be an understanding that he's probably going to go. I don't know why. The only conclusion you can draw from that is they want to sell him because they need the money.

"They'll need the money probably because of UEFA and SCR. If that's the case, can they afford Rashford? Well, only if they sell Morgan Rogers.

"If Villa make £100m, they make a massive profit, and everything's fine. If they have no desire to sell, then they're probably in a more stable position.

"But then again, they'll also not have the profit from that Morgan Rogers sale and, therefore, won't be able to spend as aggressively this summer. There's those two sides to it.

"I don't think they've got anybody else that they can make a big profit on, that they'd want to sell. They could sell [Ezri] Konsa or someone like that, but they don't want to sell a play like that."

While Konsa is an extremely valuable asset, he is not the only player that the Villans could cash in on if signing Rashford is really a priority.

It doesn't take much for transfer fees to stack up, and Emi Martinez, Andres Garcia, Amadou Onana, John McGinn and Emi Buendia are all being linked with moves away.

Out of those names, Onana is the likiest to fetch a decent fee, given that he's only 24 years of age, regularly plays for Belgium, and is a force to be reckoned with in the centre of the park.

Of course, selling Rogers would, undoubtedly, secure the most profit, having only signed him for £15m, but that would mean losing their most creative and dangerous playmaker.