Barcelona Eyes Swift Marcus Rashford Deal as Manchester United Star Touches Down in Spain
Marcus Rashford touched down in Catalonia on Sunday and is set to be formally presented as a Barcelona signing this week, bringing an end to a protracted seven-month transfer saga.
Following his exclusion from Manchester United's senior squad by Ruben Amorim last December due to a string of lackluster training performances, Rashford expressed his desire for a "fresh start". As previously documented, the England striker's preferred move was to continental Europe.
In the end, Rashford had to accept Birmingham over Barcelona, though he managed to recapture some of his former brilliance during a six-month loan stint under Unai Emery at Aston Villa. The Premier League club declined to activate the £40 million ($53.8 million) purchase clause in his deal, leaving the 27-year-old in uncertainty and relegated to solo training sessions at Carrington after Ruben Amorim's departure each evening.
The need for discretion around United's training complex is now over. With confirmation that the Premier League side had negotiated a mutually advantageous deal with Barcelona for a season-long loan including a purchase option, Rashford departed for Spain.
Upon his airport arrival, Rashford experienced his first glimpse of the media circus that surrounds him. Regional reporters filmed the United youth product clearing customs before pursuing him to the car park.
Gary Lineker, the sole other English male international to represent the La Liga giants, described the intense media attention in the city. "There are two local sports newspapers," he explained to Simon Kuper for his Barcelona history book, Barça. "You'd receive 30, 40 pages daily covering absolutely everything. I recall one slow news day when the front-page story read: 'Venables has diarrhoea'. When they claim it's més que un club, it's not merely because it's a massive football institution. It's also a football club that can be utterly mad."
Rashford is anticipated to officially join this "mad" organization on Wednesday, per Mundo Deportivo (one of the publications Lineker referenced). Initially scheduled for a Tuesday unveiling, Hansi Flick's double training session that day has delayed the announcement.
Regardless, Barcelona should have Rashford available by Thursday, when the team departs for Asia for a preseason tour covering Japan and South Korea, according to ESPN.