Rashford takes 'easy decision' to join Aston Villa on loan after falling out of favor at Man United

Marcus Rashford will look to reignite his career at Aston Villa after joining on loan for the rest of the season from Manchester United, where he has fallen out with recently hired manager Ruben Amorim.

The move was completed late Sunday, with neither Premier League club disclosing any more terms surrounding the deal. Rashford was reportedly joining Villa with a view to a permanent transfer for 40 million pounds ($50 million), with Villa paying a loan fee as well as covering the majority of Rashford's salary — reportedly worth nearly $400,000 a week.

The 27-year-old forward, one of the most famous players in the Premier League, had not played for United, his hometown club, since Dec. 12 amid concerns from Amorim about Rashford's commitment to training. He has also been overlooked for recent England squads and didn't play at the European Championship last year, after a season when he was dropped by United on one occasion for disciplinary reasons.

There was speculation about a move to Italy or Saudi Arabia, but Rashford is staying in England and now needs to prove to Villa manager Unai Emery he deserves playing time.

“I was lucky to have a few clubs approach me but Aston Villa was an easy decision,” Rashford posted on Instagram. “I really admire the way that Aston Villa have been playing this season, and the manager('s) ambitions. I just want to play football and am excited to get started.”

Villa sold Colombia striker Jhon Duran to Saudi club Al-Nassr for a reported fee of 64 million pounds ($80 million) on Friday so needed an attacking player to provide competition for Ollie Watkins.

Rashford scored 30 goals in the 2022-23 season, the most prolific of his career after bursting onto the scene early in 2016 at the age of 18, but hasn't approached that level since. He has seven goals in all competitions this season.

Amorim recently said he would rather put United’s 63-year-old goalkeeping coach in the squad ahead of someone who isn't fully committed in training, as he perceives Rashford.

“The reason is the training, what I think a footballer should do in training, in life and every day. If things don’t change, I will not change," he said. “It’s the same situation for every player. If you do the maximum and the right things then we can use every player.”

At one point, Rashford even acknowledged he was “ready for a new challenge."

Rashford has made 426 appearances for United, scoring 138 goals, and made a name for himself for his off-the-field work during the pandemic when his lobbying led to the British government agreeing to keep funding meals for poor students after initial resistance.

AP Sports Writer Ken Maguire contributed to this story.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE - Manchester United's Marcus Rashford holds the ball during the warm up before the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Newcastle at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, on Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson, File)

FILE - Manchester United's Marcus Rashford, right, shoots the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Aston Villa at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, on Dec. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson, File)

FILE - Manchester United's Marcus Rashford celebrates after his team won the English FA Cup final soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium in London, on May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton, File)

Manchester United's head coach Ruben Amorim gives instructions during the English Premier League soccer match between Fulham and Manchester United at Craven Cottage stadium in London, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery speaks during a press conference in Tamworth, England, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, ahead of the Champions League soccer match between Aston Villa FC and Celtic FC. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

Manchester United's Marcus Rashford, center, during a training session in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, ahead of the Europa League soccer match between Manchester United and Rangers FC. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Fortnite says it's now unavailable on Apple's iOS globally because the tech giant blocked a bid to rerelease the popular video game for iPhone users in the U.S. and Europe — marking the latest twist in a yearslong feud.

Apple pulled Epic Games-owned Fortnite from its app store back in 2020, just two years after the widely-popular, multiplayer survival game had launched on iOS and garnered millions of users. iPhone players in the U.S. have been locked out since, although Apple users in the EU had been able to download the game through an alternative store over the last nine months.

Following years of a tense litigation, a recent court ruling was set to clear the way for Fortnite to finally return to iOS users in the U.S., too. But the video game said early Friday that a move from Apple has prevented that — and, as a result, Fortnite says it's now dark on iOS globally.

“Apple has blocked our Fortnite submission so we cannot release to the U.S. App Store or to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union," Fortnite wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it."

In a statement sent to The Associated Press, Apple said it had asked Epic Sweden to resubmit the app update “without including the U.S. storefront of the App Store so as not to impact Fortnite in other geographies.” Sweden is where Epic’s developer account for its alternative app store is based.

But, Apple added, it "did not take any action to remove the live version of Fortnite from alternative distribution marketplaces.”

Epic did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

In the U.S., Epic filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple back in 2020, alleging the technology trendsetter was illegally using its power to gouge game makers. After a monthlong trial in 2021, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled against most of Epic’s claims, but ordered Apple to loosen its previously-exclusive control over the payments made for in-app commerce and allow links to alternative options in the U.S. for the first time — threatening to undercut sizable commissions that Apple had been collecting from in-app transactions for over a decade.

After exhausting an appeal that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Apple last year introduced a new system that opened the door for links to alternative payment options while still imposing a 27% commission on in-app transactions executed outside its own system.

Epic fired back by alleging Apple was thumbing its nose at the legal system, reviving another round of court hearings that lasted nearly a year before Gonzalez Rogers delivered a stinging rebuke last month — which held Apple in civil contempt and banned the company from collecting any commission on alternative payment systems.

That ruling cleared the way for Epic to finally return to the iPhone app store in the U.S., a reinstatement the video game maker was anticipating before Apple’s latest move.

Fortnite's availability in the EU, meanwhile, is under an alternative store for iPhone users — now called the Epic Games Store. Apple cleared the way for this last year under new regulatory pressures. Prior to Friday, Fortnite and other Epic games had been available for download on iPhones using this store in the EU since August 2024.

Before the companies' prolonged legal battle, Epic launched Fortnite on iOS in April 2018. Between then and its August 2020 removal, 116 million users accessed Fortnite on iOS devices, company filings note — raking in a daily average of about 2.5 million players, which represented about 10% of Fortnite's total daily traffic at the time.

Liedtke reported from San Francisco.

FILE - Shoppers look at Apple products in the Apple Store at the Walden Galleria in Buffalo, NY, on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)