Marcus Rashford completed his loan move to Barcelona earlier this week.
It was a long time coming for Marcus Rashford to announce his loan move to Barcelona.
The Manchester United forward will remain at Barcelona until the end of the 2025/26 season, with the La Liga club pledging to cover his entire salary package.
Rashford fell out of favour with Ruben Amorim shortly after United appointed the Portuguese coach. He was then sent on loan to Aston Villa in an attempt to rejuvenate his career, which he achieved by getting a dream move to Barcelona.
The England international now has an opportunity to play on the biggest stage in Spain and will have Champions League football to look forward to, granted he can be registered in time due to Barcelona’s financial issues.
United remain lacking in the striker department after Rashford’s exit and it remains to be seen if Ineos will address that before the competitive campaign begins.
Marcus Rashford takes part in his first Barcelona training session
Rashford trained with his Barcelona teammates in Ciutat Esportiva.
The United loanee was presented to Barcelona fans earlier this week and was the draw of the training session on Thursday afternoon.
It was an opportunity for Rashford to meet his new teammates and coaching staff as they prepare for the new La Liga season.
Rashford is the first Englishman since Gary Lineker to sign for Barcelona.
The 27-year-old took to Instagram after his first training session with Barcelona, sharing a series of photos from the memorable occasion.
Rashford captioned his post with the following: “Let’s get right to work with the team.”
As we know at Old Trafford, first impressions are important and it’s clear to see that Barcelona are excited by the arrival of Rashford.
Only time will tell if Rashford can be a success at Camp Nou.
Simon Jordan questions Rashford loan deal
TalkSPORT pundit Simon Jordan has criticised both United and Rashford following his loan move to Barcelona.
Jordan blames the player and the club for the deterioration of Rashford’s situation at Old Trafford.
“We should lament the loss of a significant talent,” he said on talkSPORT, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News. “I don’t think he was ever at the level he was built up to be but we should lament the loss of the culture of Man United for a player to lose his way.
“Do you remember after the European Championships he hadn’t been fit a lot of the season, was in the European Championships squad… came into that. After the European Championships, the club allowed him to go on holiday for two weeks and then have a shoulder surgery. Hang on… Get your priorities right!
“I think you have to lay the responsibility on the opportunities that have not been taken by the player at his own door, but if you don’t create the culture for these young men to respect and value the opportunities that they’ve got, they can then get distracted by outside influences.”
Jordan also took aim at United for how they’ve handled the entire situation.
“Of course [it is Rashford’s responsibility], but we know there are very few leaders in football. There are more often people who are followers.
“You lose them [followers], there’s distractions and outside influences. They get more distracted in their social life. They make their decision for their birthdays. They make the decision to not turn up for training and go out on the whiz in Northern Ireland – and things of that nature.
“These are things that are clearly being tolerated by a culture. Alongside that you’ve then got the distractions, the affluence and the wealth footballers have.
“You’ve got a culture of not being able to tell people the truth because if you do, they can’t cope with it – it’s only good news they can hear so they don’t build resilience and leadership.”
He added: “I think he’ll be successful at Barcelona because the clear thing for Marcus Rashford is to get away from ManchesterUnited. That’s for Man United’s sake and Marcus Rashford’s sake – and we should lament that because he’s a good player.”
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/cE1O6eQ