Expectations around Marcus Rashford were not massively high when he landed at Barcelona this summer. Essentially, he was the third-choice option for a backup role in Hansi Flick’s side.
Barca only turned to the 27-year-old England forward after missing out on Nico Williams and Luis Diaz, who the club wanted to sign to support Raphinha on the left wing. Instead, Rashford could be about about to play a leading role in Barca’s Champions League opener at Newcastle United tonight.
Signed on loan from Manchester United in July, Rashford has not set the world alight at Barca, but there have been good moments he can build on.
Rashford has shared minutes with the squad’s star names. Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and even Ferran Torres have been above him in Flick’s pecking order but with Yamal injured, Rashford will likely be in the starting XI at St James’ Park.
Different narratives have formed around Rashford. One of them points towards a player with a desperate need to revive his career and earn his new manager’s trust as soon as possible. That’s not how Barcelona see things. And there was no truth to recent rumours suggesting they were trying to cut his loan short.
Barca backroom staff sources — speaking anonymously, like others cited here, as they did not have permission to comment — say Flick has a clear plan: to give Rashford the proper time he needs to find the best version of himself. There have been several promising signs, too.
“He is still a bit shy with all of us,” one backroom staff source says. “But he is laughing all day, you can tell he is so happy to be here. When he arrived, we thought we knew the sort of player he was. Big profile, flashy in a way, Manchester United talent, in the headlines very often… but what we’ve seen here is that he’s genuinely a good guy.”
A Barca executive source adds: “Hansi is really on top of Rashford. He is really good with man-management, and a lot of that is being applied with him because Flick knows he needs that at this point in his career.”
Rashford and Flick pictured during the 1-1 draw at Rayo (Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
Rashford has been involved in all four of Barca’s La Liga games. His first appearance was from the bench, coming on for 21 minutes in the second half of a game at Mallorca that was essentially already won, with Flick’s side 2-0 up and their hosts down to nine players.
A week later, he started against Levante as a left-winger and looked a threat in the early minutes. However, the overall team performance dropped significantly as the minutes went by. By half-time, Barca were down 2-0 and Flick had replaced him with Dani Olmo. They came back to win 3-2.
In Rashford’s third game, the 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano before the international break, he produced his worst performance. He was brought on in the second half to revive the game, but rarely connected with his team-mates and his decision-making was poor — at one point, he attempted to score from the halfway line rather than launch a counter attack. Instead of being a super sub, he looked lost.
To be fair, so did the rest of the team. It was a performance totally at odds with the high-energy work ethic that shot them to a domestic treble last season. Barcelona were lucky to come away with a point.
This is where Flick comes in. Among Barca’s key decision-makers, the German coach was one of the most convinced about signing Rashford. Sporting director Deco clearly preferred Diaz as his priority, then Williams.
Flick is determined to keep giving Rashford chances. After coming back from England duty, where he scored a penalty against Serbia, Rashford’s continued hard work in training was much appreciated, especially in the context of Flick’s comments to the group after that Rayo result, when he locked the players in the dressing room and told them: “Egos kill success.”
Rashford started in Sunday’s 6-0 demolition of Valencia, putting in his best performance in a Barca shirt. It was topped with a brilliant assist for Raphinha to score the second goal: from the left, he cut inside and bent a precise, low cross with his right foot that neither Valencia’s defence nor goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala could stop.
He was replaced by Olmo after 68 minutes, with the score at 4-0, to a great reception from the 5,900 fans inside the Estadi Johan Cruyff, which had been announced as the emergency backup venue five days before kick-off, with the Camp Nou still not ready.
“I hope Rashford can show in England the same level he showed last Sunday in La Liga,” Flick told his news conference before tonight’s game. “I have followed Rashford since his time in Manchester, and I thought ‘Wow, what a player he is’. He has pace, one vs one (ability), definition. What I saw in the first weeks here is really good.”
We are in the early days of Rashford’s time at Barcelona but some early conclusions can be drawn. One is that he will certainly be a left-winger in this squad — initial talk of him playing as a No 9 can be parked.
Torres and Lewandowski are the ones fighting for that central spot, leaving Rashford to compete with Raphinha for a starting XI place, a battle he is unlikely to win regularly. Raphinha, 28, has scored three goals across four La Liga games, is one of Barca’s most important and respected dressing-room members, and is a key figure in Flick’s high-pressing system.
None of this has seemed to alter Rashford’s positivity. Those close to him insist his mindset with this loan was totally the opposite from last January, when he needed to be convinced to join Aston Villa by having it framed as a shortcut to an eventual Barca move.
Rashford is happy, embracing the Barcelona lifestyle. He has been taking Spanish lessons since establishing himself in the city following the pre-season tour of Japan and South Korea and in an interview with Diario Sport, said he intends to learn some Catalan as well. He has been living at the Gran Melia Torre Melina hotel in the city, not far from the Camp Nou, while looking for a more permanent place, and his brother, Dane, has remained as one of his closest figures during the move.
“He loves the sun, the life in the city and his team-mates,” a source from the player’s camp said.
“Now he is looking to score his first official goal at the club — and I can’t think of a better place than doing it in England.”
(Top photo: Joan Valls/Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
