Rashford to Barça: the good and the bad of his signing

FC Barcelona has closed the signing of Marcus Rashford, who arrives to reinforce the attack of the team led by Hansi Flick through a one-year loan with a non-mandatory purchase option.

The 27-year-old striker comes from completing a good semester on loan at Aston Villa (he scored 4 goals and 6 assists in 17 games), but he was not in the plans of the Manchester United coach, Rúben Amorim.

This factor allowed Barça to negotiate a beneficial loan for all parties. The 'Culés' sign a player with a lot of quality and experience at an affordable price, capable of scoring 20 or more goals in 3 of the 10 seasons he was at Old Trafford.

For his part, the winger manages to reach the team he wanted, after accepting a significant salary improvement to facilitate his signing. And, in the case of United, they get rid of one of the highest contracts in their squad and a fixed discard for their coach.

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In that sense, at FCBN we review the pros and cons of Marcus' arrival at Can Barça. The Englishman is the third Blaugrana reinforcement for the 25/26 season, after the signings of Joan García (25 M€) and Roony Bardghji (2 M€).

🟢Rashford, a luxury substitute for Raphinha and Lewandowski

In the first place, the Blaugrana team signs a striker with 10 seasons in the European elite behind him, including the dispute of two World Cups (2018, 2022) and two European Championships (2016, 2020) that, although he will not be a starter from the beginning, can contribute a lot as a substitute.

The English international arrives with the mission of replacing Raphinha as a left winger, although he can also play without problems as a '9' instead of Robert Lewandowski. In principle, Ferran Torres will be the Pole's substitute, but Flick can take advantage of the mobility of both to exploit the forcefulness of the Blaugrana attack.

🟢Hansi Flick signs a striker of his preference

For the coach, the arrival of Rashford means incorporating a winger who comes from two seasons below a 'top' performance, but with the quality and experience necessary to return to his best version.

Flick already physically and mentally recovered Raphinha in his first year in Barcelona and hopes to repeat what he did with the Brazilian with Marcus. The Manchester native was able to score 30 goals in the 22/23 season and, in Catalonia, he will have a team and coaching staff that will support him to reach similar figures next season.

Without Hansi's 'Ok', Rashford's signing would not have been possible. Even before the 'Nico Williams operation' failed, the coach had already given the green light to go for the English international.

🟢A 'low cost' reinforcement that can give Barça many joys

In addition, Rashford's signing means for Barça to cover a market need (the left winger) spending a quarter of the estimated budget for it. The board had 60 million in the bank to go for Nico Williams or Luis Díaz.

🚨🔵🔴 Barcelona have sealed all the documents of Rashford deal, set to land in Spain.

Understand Barça will pay €14m gross as salary coverage plus bonuses linked to appearances.

Marcus takes 15% pay cut and Man Utd will not cover his salary.

€30m buy option for June 2026. pic.twitter.com/DZ8U2y3x6N

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 20, 2025

Finally, they will pay about 15 'kilos' in Marcus' salary, who agreed to lower his emoluments by 15% to leave a United that was not willing to continue dealing with his very high salary (close to 20 M€ gross per year).

🔴Fermín and Gavi will have less prominence in attack with Rashford

As for the negative, the arrival of the British winger, logically, will increase the competition for a place in the 'Culé' XI. If Rashford manages to become a starter, it is likely that Raphinha will move to the attacking midfielder position, keeping Pedri González and Frenkie de Jong as the only midfielders in an ultra-offensive 4-2-3-1 scheme.

The first 'sacrificed' by this adjustment would be Dani Olmo, who from the beginning of 24/25 was the first option to accompany the 'LRL' (Lamine, Raphinha and Lewandowski). In turn, players like Fermín López and Gavi will have a much more difficult task of fighting for a starting place.

The player from Huelva alternated prominence with Olmo when injuries diminished the performance of the player from Terrassa, while the '6' was adding quality minutes as he was able to recover the competitive rhythm after almost a year injured.

Well, with Rashford adding minutes, both Gavi and Fermín will have to reinvent themselves to gain prominence, the Andalusian covering Pedri's back and the one from Huelva as a possible replacement for Lamine on the right. Frenkie, for his part, has Bernal and Casadó as alternatives.

🔴Marcus Rashford's irregularity and the memory of Joao Félix

However, the signing of Marcus does not imply that the Manchester youth player arrives to be undisputed in the XI. In fact, if something has characterized the Englishman in his time at Old Trafford it is irregularity.

The '10' found it difficult to maintain high peaks of performance for more than two or three months, going from scoring 30 goals in the 22/23 season to barely accumulating 15 goals in the year and a half after (August 2023 to December 2024).

In fact, in 21/22, he barely scored 5 goals and a couple of assists in 32 games with United, his worst season due to injuries. In 19/20 and 20/21, Rashford scored 22 and 21 goals, respectively.

Therefore, his performance is reminiscent of the bet on Joao Félix. The Portuguese also arrived on loan accepting to lower his salary to leave an Atlético where he knew he was sentenced by Diego Simeone.

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Despite his youth and talent, as well as his dream of wearing the Blaugrana shirt, the player from Viseo could not perform at the expected level and completed a rather gray season (he scored 10 goals and 6 assists in 44 appearances).

Nor did the present of a Barça that had diminished in the last season with Xavi Hernández on the bench help him too much. Marcus, on the other hand, arrives at a team that has just won everything in Spain and that aspires to lift the Champions League in 2026.

🔴Injuries can also be a problem with Rashford

One of the reasons why Rashford has found it difficult to maintain a 'top' level with Manchester United has to do with the physical aspect. At the beginning of 2020, the winger was out for almost six months due to a back injury.

Then, in mid-2021, a problem in his shoulder made him miss the first 10 games of the season and, after his reappearance, it took him a long time to recover the competitive rhythm, also suffering other problems in his thigh.

During the 22/23 season, his best season in England, he missed 9 games due to various muscular problems. And, in 24/25, he missed the last month of competition with Aston Villa due to another mishap in the hamstrings.

Considering this history of injuries, Barça will have to take special care with the physical work of Marcus Rashford, as happened the previous season with Dani Olmo. The player from Terrassa, yes, accumulates more time off than the Englishman in the last two years.