Even if the deal suits the immediate needs of all involved, the details of the agreement that takes Marcus Rashford from Manchester United to Barcelona reflect well on none of the signatories.
The two clubs are settling somewhat but Rashford, at least, has got what he really wanted and probably more than he deserves. In Catalonia right now, in between thanking his lucky stars, the 27-year-old is practising his keepie-uppies ahead of being officially unveiled as a Barca player.
None of this is how Rashford should be leaving United. If you were told a couple of years ago that the academy graduate would be swapping Old Trafford for the Nou Camp, the expectation might have been for Rashford to be revered and waved off with the warmest wishes of everyone at his boyhood club, while United banked a massive fee following a decade of stellar service.
Instead, after witnessing a couple of years of apathy, most Stretford End-ers will shrug wearily while Rashford becomes the chief beneficiary of Barca’s financial ineptitude that made their primary targets unattainable.
Doubtless, some of United’s online fanbase will be somewhat more animated. Many of Paul Pogba’s loons latched on to Rashford as the subject of their fanaticism and, to them, the player could no wrong. It’s always the manager at Manchester United.
The truth is, for the breakdown of the bond between Rashford and United, there is plenty of blame to go around.
Rashford can be excused a good deal of frustration over how his boyhood club was run for the most of the nine years since he burst into Louis van Gaal’s first-team. Too often in that time, he was one of the few certainties among the chaos and, as a local academy graduate, a throwback to the values United still claim to represent.
As recently as two years ago, Rashford looked set to cement a hero’s legacy at United when he became the first player in the post-Ferguson era to score 30 goals in a season.
Then he just seemed to get sick of it. All of it.
You would have to be an extreme optimist to view as a mere coincidence the peak of Rashford’s performance coming around contract renewal time. Almost as soon as the ink was dry on a £325,000-a-week deal, Rashford’s form and focus vanished – only to be rediscovered this summer when it became clear that Barca might be an option after all.
Perhaps only Rashford and those closest to him really understand what happened, but to many outsiders looking in, the love was gone. First for United, then football. Whatever might have been going on in his mind, he just looked thoroughly fed up with his lot.
On the pitch, even pretending to press became too much of a chore. In possession, the blinkers narrowed. Not as they tend to on the most ruthless of marksmen; whether he simply lost faith in those around him – not unimaginable at United – it became about self before side. And by 2023, his questionable decision-making was no longer limited to between the white lines.
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It was a human response. Here was a lad still rooted in his hometown, earning wealth for generations in his mid-20s, carrying more of the burden than many of his team-mates for United’s failings. Many would struggle with such expectation in that environment. Especially when factions of the right-wing press were still going after him for the heinous act of feeding children at a time of national crisis.
Rashford’s activism and advocacy, prompting more changes in government policy than any recent opposition party, should not be forgotten by a soul, least not anyone at United. They were more than happy to bathe in Rashford’s reflective glory. That pride should never fade.
Those things considered – plus more than one debilitating injury through which he played, and upheaval in his personal life – few among us are entitled to judge Rashford harshly for allowing his halo to slip. Perhaps we should give him more credit for the fact it didn’t happen sooner.
But since the back end of 2023, after signing his contract that summer, Rashford simply hasn’t seemed interested in rediscovering the form that earned that mega-deal. Even a pretence was too much. By the time Erik ten Hag was sacked, Rashford seemed to care not one jot how he was perceived by Ruben Amorim or anyone else at Old Trafford.
Amorim struggled to contain his befuddlement at the wider mess he inherited at United, but he saw no reason to sugar-coat the reality when it came to Rashford. “You can see on the bench we miss a bit of pace on the bench, but I would put [goalkeeper coach Jorge] Vital before a player who doesn’t give the maximum every day.”
That is damning. How bad must things have got with Rashford, since his partner in pre-derby crime, Alejandro Garnacho, continued to be used until Amorim could tolerate him no more?
Amorim’s keeper coach craic came towards the end of a run of a dozen games Rashford sat out amid a transfer request of sorts. Not a real transfer request, of course. Why go to the bother of writing a letter that will cost millions in needlessly-sacrificed salary when you can just use Henry Winter’s X account to tell the world you are ‘ready for a new challenge’ and still get paid?
The misguided belief among Rashford and his people seemed to be that he would have his pick of clubs in January. Barca were mentioned then; in terms of profile, AC Milan sounded a good match too. So perhaps it was slightly more humbling to find himself parked at Aston Villa rather than flying into a European giant.
Even there, Rashford was on the bench more than Unai Emery’s starting XI in the Premier League, and when given the choice to sign the temporary No.9 on a permanent basis, the Villans thought better of it.
All of which makes us wonder if this move to the actual FC Barcelona is a karmic consequence of all the child-feeding and Tory-bothering. Because, as Teddy Sheringham said, this is a grand opportunity that Rashford’s performances and mindset have not merited.
Maybe he should be careful what he wished for. Rashford’s ‘dream’ of signing for Barca could turn sour very quickly if the financially-illiterate club is unable to register him with La Liga. Until they juggle their finances to creep back under the league’s salary limit, it remains a very real possibility.
No-one back in his hometown wants Rashford thrust into that nightmare scenario, even if the stench of burnt bridges fills the Manchester air.
