Marcus Rashford is heading to Spain.
The Manchester United forward has joined Barcelona on a season-long loan, with the deal made official earlier today, July 23. As part of the agreement, the Spanish club has the option to make the move permanent in 2026 for a reported £30.3 million.
Barcelona will be footing the entire bill for Rashford’s wages—thanks to the England international agreeing to a pay cut. That financial break is expected to save United close to £15 million over the next year.
Rashford, 27, has already linked up with his new teammates and trained with the squad on Tuesday. He’s expected to be part of the group flying to Japan later this week for Barcelona’s pre-season tour across Asia.
This marks a new chapter for Rashford, who’s stepping away from English football for the first time in his career. It’s also his second loan in recent months—he spent the back half of last season at Aston Villa, where he featured in 17 matches and earned a brief return to the England squad.
Since breaking into United’s first team in 2016, Rashford has netted 138 goals in 426 appearances, placing him 15th on the club’s all-time scorers list.
But the past year hasn’t been easy. He hasn’t played a competitive match since December, after being benched for the derby against Manchester City by United boss Ruben Amorim. At the time, Amorim didn’t mince words, publicly calling out Rashford for a lack of effort, even quipping that he’d rather give a bench spot to his 63-year-old goalkeeping coach.
This slump followed what had looked like a promising turning point—Rashford signed a new five-year deal in 2023 after a 30-goal season. But the spark faded fast. He finished the 2023/24 campaign with just eight goals in 43 games and had a string of disciplinary issues under Erik ten Hag, including missed training, lateness, and partying after losses.
When he returned from his Villa spell, Rashford was among five players who expressed a desire to leave the club. In response, United had them train separately from the rest of the team.
Now in new colors and on new soil, Rashford has a chance to start fresh—whether it’s for a season or for good remains to be seen.
