He was once considered Manchester’s crown jewel of the red side. A local lad, who broke through for the senior side with a couple of early match-winning performances while still a teenager. But as the years went on, Manchester United and Marcus Rashford couldn’t quite make it work. Last year in the Premier League, he made a mid-season switch to Aston Villa on loan. And now, this summer, he became the first Englishman to sign for Barcelona in the last 40 years after the legendary Gary Lineker. He has joined on loan, with the Spanish giants having the option to buy.
Incidentally, it is in an interview with Lineker for ‘Rest Is Football’, that Rashford has opened up on the state United find themselves in after the turmoil of recent years. The 27-year-old reckons that the many managerial changes have put the club in ‘no man’s land.’ One of the most popular – and most successful clubs in world football – have struggled since the retirement of the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013.
“People say we’ve been in a transition for years. To be in a transition, you have to start the transition. So it’s like the actual transition’s not started yet,” Rashford told Lineker and former England defender Micah Richards in a chat ahead of Barcelona’s league season.
“To start a transition, you have to make a plan and stick to it. So this is the thing that I feel – it’s not easy. Because if it’s not going well, the fans demand [change]. But this is where I speak about being realistic with what your situation is. I feel like we’ve had that many different managers and different ideas and different strategies in order to win … you end up in the middle of – you end up in no man’s land.”
Rashford was frozen out of the United lineup after the arrival of Ruben Amorim from Sporting Lisbon, the latest in a consistent churn of management at the club. United have not won the Premier League title since 2012-13, the last season of Ferguson’s career before he retired, while Liverpool have now equalled their tally of 20 league titles.
United’s managerial carousel since Ferguson’s exit has included David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erik ten Hag, with each bringing vastly different playing styles.
“When Ferguson was in charge, not only were there principles for the first team but they were for the whole academy,” Rashford said. “They’d all understand the principles of playing the Man United way. Any team that’s been successful over a period of time, they have principles that mean that any coach or player that comes in has to align to or add to the principles. Whereas at times I feel like United have just been: we’re hungry to win, so we’ll always try to adapt and to sign players that fit this system.”
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“But it’s reactionary. If your direction’s always changing, you can’t expect to be able to win the league. Yeah, you might win some cup tournaments, but it’s because you do have a good coach and you do have good players and you have match winners in your team – you’re not there by accident. We’ve been way below where we deem United to be. But then if you take a step back, which I’ve been able to do, especially over the last six months – what do you expect?”
Barcelona are coming off one of its best seasons in years, having won the league, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup. They also went deep in the Champions League, reaching the semifinals for the first time since 2019. In their second year under coach Hansi Flick, the Catalan club will try to add to its success from last season by boosting its squad with Rashford, who will be teaming up with Lamine Yamal and Robert Lewandowski in an attacking front that was one of the best in Europe last season. It led the scoring charts both in the Spanish league – with more than 100 goals – and in the Champions League.
(With AP and Reuters inputs)
