The Saudi Pro League will offer Marcus Rashford a way out of Manchester United.

Rashford’s decision to publicly declare his desire to quit Old Trafford has gone down badly with an “emotional” Ruben Amorim, who wished the player had kept his feelings private.

It is understood the wantaway England striker’s best hope of securing a move to a leading club in Europe is for a loan with an obligation to buy but it remains to be seen if that would be of interest to United.

Nonetheless, Rashford is on a list of elite Saudi Pro League targets that also includes Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne. All three are regarded as players who have the right profiles to develop the league and elevate it on the world stage.

Unlike Salah or De Bruyne, Rashford – who has 3½ years left to run on a deal worth £325,000 a week – is not out of contract at the end of this season although the Saudi Pro League will not be fazed by the money involved in trying to land such an ambitious target.

The Saudis have waited for Salah and De Bruyne’s contracts to run down although it remains to be seen whether they will agree new deals with Liverpool and City.

De Bruyne has been linked with a move to MLS club San Diego while City would also consider offering him a role at clubs within their own football group when he eventually moves on.

There was no sign of Rashford when United’s squad left Manchester on Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at Tottenham. Alejandro Garnacho and Rashford were both omitted from the squad for Sunday’s 2-1 win at Manchester City but, while Garnacho was spotted among the travelling party that gathered at Stockport station, Rashford was not.

Rashford would be of interest to the top four Saudi Pro League clubs – Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr and Al-Ahli – although there has also been talk of newly promoted Al-Qadsiah, who are not one of the PIF-owned clubs but are well-financed, wanting him.

Any potential deal would be complicated, in the case of Al-Ittihad for example, by the quota of foreign players allowed at Saudi Pro League clubs. The league leaders already have the eight non-Saudis (over 21) they are allowed under contract for this season and the next although, clearly, there could be some trading to make room for someone like Rashford.

Reluctance to quit European football

The biggest stumbling block would be Rashford’s expected reluctance to quit top European football.

He stressed in his interview on Tuesday announcing he wanted to leave United that he is desperate to revive his England career and knows that he must be playing top-level football to earn a recall under new head coach Thomas Tuchel. Rashford has not played for England since a late substitute appearance against Brazil in March and was left out of the squad for the Euros in Germany this summer, when the national team were beaten in the final by Spain.

The Saudi Pro League has started its winter break and it is understood that if an offer is made for Rashford it is far more likely to be in the summer rather than during the January window.

Given Rashford’s salary and a contract that runs until 2028, there are very few clubs who can afford him even if United accept a cut-price transfer fee. A fee of around £40 million has been mooted although the value of that, in accounting terms, would be higher for the club as he is an academy product.

At the same time, though, Rashford also appears to have weakened his own negotiating position by stating he wants to leave, even though Telegraph Sport also revealed last week that United were open to offers for him last summer.

Although United were not actively trying to offload Rashford in the summer, clubs were aware they were open to offers for the player but United did not receive a single formal enquiry for the England striker.

There has been a feeling for some time that there is no obvious market for him in Europe. It is thought Rashford’s preference would be for a move to Spain but Barcelona have serious financial challenges and Real Madrid, who appear well stocked in attack, have been concentrating their efforts on potential free-transfer signings this coming summer such as Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alphonso Davies of Bayern Munich.

Rashford has been offered to Paris St-Germain on at least two occasions – when his contract was running down in 2022 and last summer – but they did not follow through with any interest. In 2022 they would have signed him but only if he was available on a free transfer. United held the option of a 12-month extension. PSG are highly unlikely to offer him a way out this time round.

Speaking ahead of the Tottenham game, Amorim hinted at his disappointment that Rashford chose to go public. Asked what he would have done in Rashford’s position, the United head coach said: “If this was me probably I would speak with the manager but guys, let’s focus on Tottenham.”

Amorim also admitted to having been left “a little bit emotional” about the situation. “It’s hard to explain to you guys what I am going to do,” he said. “I’m a little bit emotional so in the moment I will decide what to do. It’s a hard situation to comment. If I give a lot of importance it will have big headlines in the papers and if I say it’s not a problem then my standards are getting low. So I will deal with that, I understand that.

“My focus is to not take the attention away from the game and the team and what we did in the last game. What I’m saying is that the team is more important than the individual, we will assess it at the right time, that’s all.”

Amorim suggested he wanted Rashford to stay and that there was no greater challenge for the striker than the one currently facing him at United.

“Of course, because this kind of club needs big talent and he’s a big talent, so he just needs to perform at the highest level and that is my focus,” he said. “I just want to help Marcus.

“I think he’s right, we have here a new challenge, it’s a tough one. For me, it’s the biggest in football because we are in a difficult situation and this is one of the biggest clubs in the world.

“So this is really a new challenge and the biggest one and I hope all my players are ready for this new challenge.

“What I want is to take the best stuff of Marcus Rashford as with the other players so I don’t talk about the future, I just talk about the present. We are better with Marcus Rashford, that is simple and we will try different things to push Marcus to the best levels that he has shown in the past.”