After weeks turned into months of speculation, Barcelona have reportedly secured their coveted attacking reinforcement with only an official announcement pending to confirm Marcus Rashford as a new Blaugrana player.
An agreement was reached between Barcelona and Manchester United that will see Rashford join the Catalans on a one-year loan deal. The England international has already landed in the Catalan capital, but he arrives knowing he has work to do to get into Hansi Flick’s starting lineup.
SPORT reports that heading into the season, Flick considers Rashford as a perfect alternative to come off the bench and to help the team rotate players so their established stars are fresh come season’s end.
Debates surrounding what Rashford’s best position dates back to his debut in 2016. Yet, the aforementioned report states that Flick views him exclusively as a left winger with the freedom to cut inside. The club doesn't see Rashford as an alternative to Robert Lewandowski in the No. 9 role.
With Raphinha coming off a career year, he enters the 2025–26 season as the penciled-in starter on the left wing. Rashford joins the club as his immediate substitute, one that Flick welcomes gladly in an effort to manage the Brazilian's minutes after he eclipsed the 4,500 minute mark in 2024–25.
What's undeniable is that Rashford raises the floor on Barcelona’s attacking variants. A season ago, Ansu Fati and Pau Víctor were commonly used as Raphinha’s replacements—with Ferran Torres deployed mostly as a center forward.
At 27 years old, Rashford joins the club at the same age Raphinha reached his peak level during Flick’s first season. If he manages a similar uptick in form and returns to the level that saw him score 30 goals for Manchester United in 2022–23, then it's not hard to envision him getting more and more playing time as the season goes on.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Hansi Flick ‘Plans’ to Use Marcus Rashford at Barcelona.
