Marcus Rashford has revealed that he wants to play alongside Lamine Yamal for Barcelona and that he hopes he will be able to.
Barcelona sporting director Deco and manager Hansi Flick have both gone public in their admiration for Rashford, who Manchester United are willing to sell. And the England international praised the 17-year-old winger Yamal during an interview with influencer Javi Ruiz.
When asked if he wanted to play with the Euro 2024 winner, Rashford replied: “Yes, for sure. Everyone wants to play with the best. Hopefully... we’ll see.”
Rashford broke into the United and England teams at 18 and is impressed by what Yamal has done at an even younger age.
He added: “[It is] difficult to put into words what he is doing. He is not supposed to be doing that at 16-17 [years of age]. We have not seen that before. It is a skill to be able to play at that age with that mentality.”
Deco has also said that Barcelona like Luis Diaz, though Liverpool are adamant that the Colombian international is not for sale, and want to sign another winger this summer. But Barcelona are seemingly closing in on Nico Williams after reportedly agreeing personal terms with the Spain winger, who has a release clause in his contract with Athletic Bilbao.
Barcelona’s financial problems mean they have limited funds for transfers while United had hoped to raise £40m for Rashford.
The 27-year-old has not played for his hometown club since December, when manager Ruben Amorim dropped him for the Manchester derby and only named him on the bench once more before he joined Aston Villa on loan.
Rashford played well for Villa, albeit while only scoring four goals in 17 games, but while the Midlands club had a £40m option to buy him, that is less likely after they failed to qualify for the Champions League.
Barcelona were also interested in Rashford in January and are again looking to strengthen their attack, even though they already can call upon Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Yamal, Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres.
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