Marcus Rashford has been told he must “sacrifice himself for the team” and “significantly improve his defensive approach” ahead of a move to Barcelona.
After a summer of will he, won’t he, Rashford finally looks to be on the verge of his ‘dream’ move to the Camp Nou after the Spanish club failed in pursuits of Nico Williams and Luis Diaz.
But Barcelona's willingness to go for their third option Rashford was only given the green light following a meeting between the player and manager Hansi Flick.
Barcelona-based newspaper Sport claim Flick met with the castoff winger last Thursday and explained what his role in the team would be.
‘The German manager was very clear and explained his role in the team. He had to earn a starting spot and, most importantly, he had to sacrifice himself for the team by significantly improving his defensive approach.’
Barcelona’s concerns are backed up by stats. On average per 90 minutes in the Premier League last season, Rashford made just 0.59 tackles and won only a third of the tackles he attempted.
He made 4.12 duels, winning just 31.5% and recovered the ball 1.18 times.
In comparison, Lamine Yamal made 0.88 tackles per La Liga game, winning 66.7%, and he also won 8.3 duels at a success rate of 53.4%.
Another hurdle in the player’s way is Barcelona’s potential inability to register him for the upcoming season.
The club has had a number of registration issues in the past, most recently with Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor, with La Liga financial rules much stricter than the Premier League equivalent.
The Athletic say that Barcelona’s unwillingness to allow Williams to leave if he could not be registered was why the player ultimately chose to stay at Athletic and sign a 10-year contract extension.
Currently, Barcelona are over their salary limit with the club and league arguing about how much was made in revenue which means that, as things stand, new players cannot be registered.
Barcelona have already made additions to their squad this summer, notably goalkeeper Joan Garcia arriving from city rivals Espanyol, so the club therefore have to shift some players off their books to allow them to register Rashford.
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Already this summer, the club have sold Alex Valle and Pablo Torre while Clement Lenglet left to join Atletico on a free. Ansu Fati has also been loaned out to Monaco.
The club is trying to work on the departure of Marc-Andre ter Stegen, a situation made more complicated by the club owing him money for deferring his salary in recent years.
Ter Stegen, who joined Barcelonan in 2014 and is on a reported €120,000 a week, is said to favour a stay and currently has a back injury, making a departure even less likely.
The good news is that Rashford’s arrival as a loan rather than a permanent signing will make it easier when it comes to registering him. The club are not paying United a loan fee but are covering his whole salary. Although the Athletic suggest Rashford has agreed to a wage reduction to push through the move.
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