Aston Villa strengthened their attacking options in the final days of the January transfer window, with Marcus Rashford (£6.6m) and Marco Asensio (£6.0m) joining on loan for the rest of the season.
Rashford, 27, moves from Manchester United with Villa holding an option to make the switch permanent for £40m in the summer.
Asensio, meanwhile, is a straightforward loan deal with no obligation to buy, although Paris Saint-Germain are thought to be open about Villa extending his stay beyond 2024/25.

Now playing under Unai Emery, a manager both have recently spoken highly of, can Rashford and Asensio revive their careers in the West Midlands?
We mull this over in our latest Scout Report article.
MARCUS RASHFORD: THE HISTORY
RASHFORD’S LEAGUE RECORD
Season | Team | Starts (sub apps) | Goals | Assists (Opta + Fantasy) |
---|---|---|---|---|
24/25 | Man Utd | 12 (3) | 4 | 1 |
23/24 | Man Utd | 26 (7) | 7 | 3 |
22/23 | Man Utd | 32 (3) | 17 | 7 |
21/22 | Man Utd | 13 (12) | 4 | 2 |
20/21 | Man Utd | 33 (4) | 11 | 11 |
19/20 | Man Utd | 31 | 17 | 8 |
18/19 | Man Utd | 26 (7) | 10 | 7 |
17/18 | Man Utd | 17 (18) | 7 | 5 |
16/17 | Man Utd | 16 (16) | 5 | 3 |
15/16 | Man Utd | 11 | 5 | 2 |
Rashford joined Manchester United’s academy at the age of seven and went on to make his senior professional debut under Louis van Gaal in 2016.
He has since scored 87 goals in 287 Premier League appearances for the club, with a vast array of medals secured, including the UEFA Europa League, two FA Cups and two EFL Cups.
Rashford’s 2022/23 campaign was particularly prolific, notching 30 goals in 56 games in all competitions, with 17 in the Premier League. Making a mockery of his initial £6.5m Fantasy Premier League (FPL) price tag, he easily surpassed 200 FPL points and even ended as the top midfielder for post-World Cup points per start (6.9).
Rashford’s fall from grace has been steep, however, having barely scraped double figures for attacking returns in 2023/24.
This season has been a disaster, too: Ruben Amorim dropped Rashford from his squad entirely for the Manchester derby in Gameweek 16 and he hasn’t played since.
On the international stage, Rashford has scored 17 goals for England and has represented his country at two World Cups and two European Championships, amassing 60 caps.
MARCO ASENSIO: THE HISTORY
ASENSIO’S LEAGUE RECORD
Season | Team | Starts (sub apps) | Goals | Assists (Opta) |
---|---|---|---|---|
24/25 | PSG | 8 (4) | 2 | 4 |
23/24 | PSG | 13 (6) | 4 | 5 |
22/23 | Real Madrid | 15 (16) | 9 | 6 |
21/22 | Real Madrid | 19 (12) | 10 | 0 |
20/21 | Real Madrid | 21 (14) | 5 | 2 |
19/20 | Real Madrid | 3 (6) | 3 | 1 |
18/19 | Real Madrid | 19 (11) | 1 | 8 |
17/18 | Real Madrid | 19 (13) | 6 | 5 |
16/17 | Real Madrid | 11 (12) | 3 | 2 |
15/16 | Espanyol (loan) | 33 (1) | 4 | 13 |
14/15 | Mallorca | 33 (3) | 6 | 8 |
13/14 | Mallorca | 12 (8) | 1 | 1 |
Asensio arrives at Villa Park with an eye-catching CV from his time at Real Madrid and PSG.
A three-time UEFA Champions League winner, he spent nine years in Madrid before moving to France in 2023.
A promising start in Paris was quickly halted by injury, however, and it’s fair to say he never truly recovered.
In a fairly unremarkable 18 months, he played just 31 times in Ligue 1. He did manage six goals and nine assists in that time, but his struggle for minutes amplified in 2024/25 and he’s barely featured since the end of November.
The 29-year-old has 38 caps for Spain, scoring twice, and won the UEFA Nations League in 2023.
IN QUOTES
“I’ve had to choose somewhere where I feel my style of football is suited to, and can help them and help me rediscover and improve as a player.
“I know I can hurt teams, I know when I’m playing at my best, I can decide football games. That’ll be my only ambition and only goal, to help the team win more games, more points and hopefully create history.” – Marcus Rashford
“Unai is a coach that I’ve known for a while. He’s had a great career, he’s a top coach, he’s been key in me being able to come here because of his idea of how he wants to play football.
“I love it, it suits me perfectly and he’s a really important person as to why I’m here right now.” – Marco Asensio
WHERE DO RASHFORD + ASENSIO FIT IN AT VILLA?
Rashford and Asensio are both versatile attackers who can play in a number of positions.
With Emiliano Buendia and Jhon Duran recently leaving for Bayer Leverkusen and Al Nassr respectively, they immediately add depth, an important factor with Villa still competing in Europe.
While Rashford has favoured a left-wing role throughout his career, he is also capable of playing on the right, as a centre-forward or as a No 10.
The presumption, however, is that he will be utilised out wide at Villa, predominantly on the left.
From here, his pace and goal threat could be key and with Lucas Digne (£4.6m) supplying the width, Rashford will have the freedom to drift into central areas.
Following Rashford’s arrival, Jacob Ramsey’s (£5.4m) place in the starting XI is most at threat, despite impressing since coming back from injury.
As for Asensio, he has played in every attacking midfield position, even as a false nine, throughout his career, but is arguably most comfortable on the right or as a No 10.
Leon Bailey (£6.2m) has struggled for form down Villa’s right all season, with goals (first image below) and assists (second image) conspicuous by their absence from that side of the pitch. It could present opportunities for both Asensio and Donyell Malen (£5.5m), who recently arrived from Borussia Dortmund, in the second half of the season.

Above: Aston Villa’s goal map since the start of October

Above: Aston Villa’s chances created (assists in green) since the start of October
Asensio is left-footed and would likely benefit from an attacking right-back behind him, so there are plenty of tactical conundrums for Emery to solve.
Don’t be surprised to see Rashford and Asensio occasionally alleviate some of the burden on Morgan Rogers (£5.6m) and Ollie Watkins (£8.9m), too.
Each player’s versatility at least means there is a way for Emery to accommodate Asensio, Rashford, Rogers and Watkins in the same starting XI, an exciting prospect for Fantasy managers.

Above: A potential Aston Villa attacking set-up, via Lineup Builder
THE FPL PROSPECTS
Should Rashford nail down a regular starting spot, he carries the most Fantasy potential.
For now, it’s watch and wait to see if a) Villa ‘double’ in Gameweek 25 and b) Rashford looks sharp against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup on Sunday.
If both boxes are ticked, Rashford could therefore provide exceptional value and present a nice differential opportunity for the ‘double’ against Ipswich Town and Liverpool.
Crucially, both fixtures would be at home, where Villa have generally performed very well this season, losing only once to Arsenal. Even then, they were arguably the better team.

On the flip side, it carries risk, with Rashford’s character and application in question.
He will surely need a few games to regain match sharpness, too, having not featured for Manchester United since mid-December.
If anybody can revive Rashford’s career though, it will be Emery.
“If there is a coach in European or even world football who is characterised by recovering players and getting the most out of them, it’s Unai Emery.” – Monchi, Aston Villa’s President of Football Operations
There are several factors in his favour.
Firstly, the pursuit of Rashford was driven by Emery, with the belief he can help him recapture his best form. His Opta goal threat stats from 2022/23 compared to other FPL midfielders provides a snapshot of that output:

Furthermore, Rashford’s attributes fit Villa’s playing style well.
For example, his runs in behind will be key, as no Premier League team has registered more than Villa’s 61 through balls this season.
As for Asensio, despite the stop-start nature of his past couple of seasons, he has still been one of Ligue 1’s chief creators.
In 2023/24, the Spaniard registered 0.47 expected assists (xA) per 90, the highest rate of any player in the division (minimum 500 mins), while this season, he has made the most assists per 90 (0.58).
Assists rather than goals are perhaps more likely, then, but there is still plenty of goal threat, with 3.77 shots per 90.
For context, Watkins and Rogers are averaging 3.23 and 1.76 respectively in this metric over the current campaign.
Asensio’s versatility could be seen as both a positive and negative in FPL. On the one hand, his route to the starting XI isn’t blocked by one positional rival. On the other, the concern is that he doesn’t get the chance to build up momentum in one role, instead being shifted around.
There are plenty of challenges for Asensio to overcome, too, not least his lack of game time over the past few seasons.
It suggests Villa will have to manage his minutes, potentially damaging his Fantasy appeal. Even if he can nail down a regular spot, and it’s a big if, he’ll most likely come off early with quality players – and most importantly fresh legs – in reserve, like Bailey, Malen and Ramsey.
Finishing up with Rashford, he looks likely to offer Fantasy managers a real mid-price option at £6.6m, but with the likes of Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m), Justin Kluivert (£5.9m) and Antoine Semenyo (£5.6m) available in a similar-ish bracket, the vast majority will be happy to assess the situation from afar until Rashford begins to realise his undoubted potential again.
That said, a Double Gameweek 25 would dramatically boost his appeal and undoubtedly draw some managers in, so it’s all eyes on Anfield on Thursday night.


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