Manchester United were determined to overhaul their squad during the summer transfer window, and needed to move players on just as much as they needed to sign new ones.
Ruben Amorim was particularly keen to see the back of the ‘bomb squad’, who were informed early on that they had no future at Old Trafford.
Marcus Rashford was one of the biggest names in the exiled group and the England international joined Barcelona on loan in July.
A second loan
The 27-year-old fell out of favour under the United head coach last season and moved to Aston Villa on loan in January.
His return to Old Trafford was short-lived, and after being excluded from the club’s pre-season matches he sealed his dream move to Barcelona.
The La Liga giants could only manage a loan move, turning to the Englishman after missing out on Nico Williams, and his time there has been hit and miss so far.
Not going anywhere
Rashford is like catnip to the press, and rumours started swirling only three games into the season that Barcelona were looking to terminate the loan and send him packing back to Manchester.
Journalist Guillem Balague shut these claims down yesterday, and now the ever-reliable Fabrizio Romano has weighed in on the subject.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano emphatically slammed any talk of Rashford leaving the Nou Camp early as “complete bullsh-t” – an unusually strong sentiment from the transfer guru.
Romano weighs in
Romano said: “I don’t know where this story is coming from, to be honest I think it’s really a shame to see these kind of rumours.
“There’s absolutely zero in it. Barcelona are very happy with Rashford, very happy with the deal they did. It’s a loan with buy option so for Barca even financially it’s not a big problem.”
Rashford’s attitude has been called into question by many at United, where his body language often looked like the player wanted to be elsewhere.
This is not the case in La Liga, according to Romano: “They’re very happy with the attitude of Marcus Rashford. They are waiting obviously for Marcus to adapt, new football, new league, new city, new teammates, after spending a lot of time always in the same country.
“So for Rashford it’s a big opportunity, he knows that. But they are completely aligned. They are starting this new chapter with optimism and confidence.”
The Italian journalist rounded things off strongly: “So at the moment these reports of Barcelona terminating the loan deal early for Rashford is complete bullsh-t. There’s nothing at all into it.”
Featured image Alex Caparros via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
