Whilst it’s true that Manchester United’s faltering England international Marcus Rashford has experienced a real upturn in form during his loan spell at Aston Villa, speculation of a move to join Barcelona, which is doing the rounds currently, seems something of a massive leap of the imagination.
It’s clearly a move that the 27-year-old forward would welcome, and perhaps a year or two ago, a deal that could be considered a possibility, but quite how the adaptable attacker would appear on Hansi Flick’s Barcelona radar is a little hard to fathom.
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Under both Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim, Rashford failed to prove himself as a vital cog in their respective wheels, and he was ushered out of the club he has represented since the age of eight in a manner that was not becoming of a team of Manchester United’s standing.
As if to prove the doubters wrong, Rashford has proceeded to more than prove his credentials under Aston Villa boss Unai Emery, impressing in Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League action.
Over the course of 17 games, seven of which came from the bench, Rashford has scored four times and provided five assists and has been a revitalized performer. His inability to create a spark in recent Manchester United squads can, at least in part, be put down to the fact that the club as a whole has been woefully short of its very high standards, albeit that doesn’t tell the whole picture.
Rashford has been coasting for a while, and a fresh challenge has clearly helped spark a seeming love for the game, and a permanent transfer to pastures new seems on the cards, but could that really mean a move to Barcelona?
According to BBC, there is a chance he could stay at Aston Villa, who, by all accounts, have first refusal, and the likes of PSG, AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Tottenham are also monitoring the situation.
Emery has been full of praise for Rashford, and his glowing words would appear to indicate the Spaniard could be open to a permanent switch.
“He is a good guy, he is humble, he is a very good professional player, he is really happy with his team-mates. He has been demanding of himself. I think he is playing free. The first thing is to try and connect with him as a person, then after that to connect with him as a player.”
“His process here is getting better as well. He is playing in two different positions, he started as a left winger, now he is playing more as a striker. We want to find how he can exploit his qualities as best as possible with us. This is the process we have, still work to do, still process to do, but the most important is his feeling.”
“We are seeing him smiling. It is the best news we can have. I am seeing him happy, I am seeing him committed with everything we are doing.”
This is, of course, a two-way street. One imagines a key factor in Rashford’s openness towards a move to Aston Villa in January was the fact that they had UEFA Champions League football to offer.
So with that in mind, Aston Villa will be keen to net the top five finish needed to secure a return to UEFA’s showpiece tournament for 2025/26, which would not only aid their pursuit of a full-time deal with Rashford but could also help Emery’s ongoing squad rebuild.
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