Barcelona have confirmed the signing of Marcus Rashford on a season-long loan from Manchester United, with an option to buy. The 27-year-old forward joins the Spanish side after falling out of favour under manager Ruben Amorim at his boyhood club.
“I want to win the biggest trophies and feel like Barcelona is a huge club in the football world so it is the perfect place,” Rashford said in an official unveiling. “You see with the team last season, they have a young ambitious team and I want to add my qualities, my personality, improve the team and help them win.” He added: “It’s a club where people’s dreams come true and they win big prizes. And what the club stands for really means a lot to me as well. It feels like home.”
Rashford was one of five United players made to train separately from Amorim’s first-team squad this summer. He had spent the second half of last season on loan at Aston Villa, and has three years remaining on his £325,000-a-week contract at Old Trafford. Barcelona noted that he becomes the 10th player to represent both clubs, following the likes of Mark Hughes, Laurent Blanc, and Gerard Piqué.
“The situation with United is the club is in a period of change and they have been for a while,” Rashford said. “I don’t have anything bad to say about Manchester United as it has been an important part not only in my career but my life. … But football is like life – not everything goes as simply as you thought and this is my next chapter.” He has scored 138 goals in 426 appearances for United over 20 years, but has not featured since being dropped by Amorim for the Manchester derby last December.
Manchester United issued a statement saying: “Everyone at Manchester United wishes Marcus good luck for the season.”
