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Marcus Rashford believes Manchester United would be prepared to sell him for £40m to anyone this summer, not just Aston Villa.
The 27-year-old joined Villa in February in a loan deal that included a £40m option-to-buy clause.
The clause does not prevent any other club signing the forward, whose short-term contract with Villa expires on 30 June.
Manager Unai Emery has confirmed Rashford will not play for the club again this season as he is yet to recover from the hamstring injury he suffered in the build-up to last month's FA Cup semi-final defeat by Crystal Palace.
The England international is ineligible for Villa's final game of the season against his parent club at Old Trafford on 25 May.
While Rashford is understood to have enjoyed his time working under Emery and had a significant impact on Villa's run to the Champions League quarter-finals - where they were narrowly beaten by Paris St-Germain - there have been no negotiations over a permanent transfer.
Villa still harbour realistic ambitions of a top-five Premier League finish, which would secure a return to the Champions League next season. It would also put them in a better position to broker a deal, considering sources close to Rashford stress he has no intention of taking a pay cut from his estimated £325,000-a-week salary.
The Rashford camp do not believe current United head coach Ruben Amorim wants to restore the player to his squad, while minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has previously spoken about his frustration at some of the team's highest earners not being on the pitch.
It has echoes of 12 months ago, when Jadon Sancho finished the season with Borussia Dortmund following a major public fall-out with then-manager Erik ten Hag.
While an uneasy peace was brokered by senior club officials between player and manager that at least allowed Sancho to be part of United's pre-season preparations, the England forward was overlooked for the opening Premier League games and eventually joined Chelsea. It is not yet clear whether Chelsea will pay a £5m fee to send Sancho back to United, rather than pay the agreed £20m-£25m for the 25-year-old.
As it stands, sources close to Rashford expect him to return to United for pre-season training in July. United have a match against newly promoted Leeds in Sweden on 19 July before they head to the United States for three games in the Premier League's summer tournament.
They conclude their preparations against David de Gea's Fiorentina at Old Trafford on 9 August.
The simple truth is if Rashford sticks to his guns over his wages – and his United contract does not run out until 2028, very few clubs in the world could afford him.
It means United have to offer an incentive to negotiate a sale, through a reduced fee or offering to pay a portion of his wages or both.
United sources previously said Villa would end up covering between 75% and 90% of Rashford's salary depending on performances.
Villa reportedly turned down a £60m bid for their England forward Ollie Watkins from Arsenal in January and Emery subsequently picked Rashford ahead of Watkins for the club's biggest games.
Rashford had harboured hopes of a move to Barcelona in January but no deal materialised. Ideally, he would prefer to play for a club who are in the Champions League next season. It is not clear whether Liverpool or Manchester City would be interested, or whether the player would be prepared to join United's fiercest rivals.
In addition, it is not certain whether Rashford would be inclined to stay at United should they lose next week's Europa League final, and with Amorim's future coming under more severe scrutiny than is currently the case.
Either way, another loan deal rather than a straight transfer cannot be ruled out.
An obvious comparison is Joao Felix, who became the fifth most expensive player in history when he joined Atletico Madrid from Benfica for 126m euros (£113m) in 2019, but then fell out with coach Diego Simeone and spent 18 months on loan, first at Chelsea, then Barcelona.
Portugal forward Felix joined Chelsea permanently for £45m last summer as England midfielder Conor Gallagher went the other way.
Despite signing a seven-year contract with the Blues, the 25-year-old started just three Premier League games before joining AC Milan on loan in February.
