Barcelona are reportedly hopeful of registering Marcus Rashford in their squad before Saturday’s La Liga opener after coming up with a plan to address the ongoing uncertainty which manager Hansi Flick admits has left him unhappy.
Rashford joined on loan from Manchester United on July 23, but with Barcelona still dealing with severe financial limitations the England international is not yet eligible to play competitively, although he has insisted he is not concerned by the situation.
A favorable verdict this week from La Liga’s medical commission on Marc-André ter Stegen, allowing Barça to offload his salary during what is confirmed to be a long-term injury, means that new goalkeeper Joan García can be registered. But the club wants Rashford available for Saturday too.
The ideal scenario for Barcelona is that the sale of VIP boxes in the renovated Camp Nou would be validated by La Liga, thereby giving the club the necessary financial boost required for the outstanding registrations—not just Rashford, but Wojciech Szczęsny, Roony Bardghji and Gerard Martín. But MARCA writes that “no clear solution” is in sight with regard to the boxes.
‘Plan B’ was being formulated earlier in the week, relying on a €7 million ($8.2 million) guarantee from the board to La Liga. The latest report explains that the club will now use that guarantee “immediately”, rather than as a last desperate measure at the end of the transfer window.
The motivating factor is the urgency behind making Rashford available for Hansi Flick, with Barcelona needing to get off to a good start in Mallorca and Robert Lewandowski sidelined. Club officials are described as “working all day” on Thursday to “activate the endorsement” from the board and have Rashford registered to play in time.
In the build-up to the game, Flick did not hide his frustration at the delay in registering his new signings.
“I’m not happy,” Flick told his press conference. “I know the situation and I trust the club. We have to wait until tomorrow. The same thing happened a year ago, and we started very well, so let’s focus on the game.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Not Happy’—Hansi Flick Blasts Barcelona Registration Uncertainty, Marcus Rashford ‘Plan’ Revealed.
