Sir Jim Ratcliffe identifies next two Man Utd stars to sell after Rashford

Sir Jim Ratcliffe already knows the next two players he would like to leave Manchester United this month once Marcus Rashford leaves the club.

The Red Devils forward revealed his desire for a new challenge last month, with the club happy to facilitate his sale. That has proven difficult so far, with Rashford's £325,000-a-week salary at United appearing off-putting to a number of clubs.

One lane from Old Trafford could lead to the San Siro. AC Milan are emerging as the likely option and would like to loan him initially, but are unwilling to pay even half of his wages.

Nevertheless, Milan are trying to pave the way for a transfer and reports in Italy claim that striker Noah Okafor will fly to Germany on Friday to sign for RB Leipzig. His departure will free up space in the squad and on the wage bill, and Rashford's brother and representative Dane is said to have been in Italy this week to work on the deal.

However, Rashford's departure is not the only thing United are working on. Ratcliffe also has the sale of Brazilian duo Casemiro and Antony in mind.

The departure of the trio is considered a priority for the club, with Casemiro earning £350,000 per week and Antony £200,000 per week, while Rashford would offer the opportunity for pure profit in terms of profit and sustainability rules. Ratcliffe and his team want to deduct around £1 million from United's weekly wage bill to help them meet the PSR.

The entire United team is said to be for sale, including Kobbie Mainoo. New boss Ruben Amorim wants to bring his own players to the club after arriving in November and it is accepted that team management will be key if they hope to overhaul the squad.

“If the window is open, we can try to do something and we will try to do something,” Amorim has noted. “But I think in the coming weeks we will have more time to train and we can improve, that's the only way.

“We have played many matches without training, now we have more room to grow. You can see that the context is worse at the moment because we have suffered many losses, so we have to keep everything under control.”