Last week, Marcus Rashford again created a highlight by scoring in the match against Real Sociedad. It's a pity that his header was not enough to help Blaugrana get even 1 point away from home.
After moving from Man United, Marcus Rashford has made great efforts to stay at Barca permanently. Up to this point, he is the player who has scored the most goals for the Camp Nou home team in the Champions League (4). Since arriving, Rashford has contributed 19 goals (8 goals, 11 assists) in 29 matches, despite only having 18 starts.
Having Rashford helps Barca increase depth, not just a large squad. Last season, Hansi Flick had Ansu Fati and Pau Viktor on the bench, but these 2 stars were only a quantity option, not the quality of current Rashford. Moreover, Rashford catching up quickly, right when the whole team suffered a storm of injuries, made Flick feel very relieved.
Rashford appears a lot in the left wing position, sometimes playing center forward. Currently, Barca's left wing is defaulted to belong to Raphinha. Therefore, if he wants to use both Rashford and Raphinha at the same time, Flick sometimes has to adjust the formation, creating more space between the center forward position and the left wing to give the "Doctor" more opportunities.
Rashford is very good, but besides that, there are still many tactical limitations such as the ability to choose positions when running without the ball being quite weak. Besides, the pressing ability is also a shortcoming when the English striker cannot contribute as much to this stage as his teammates.
At Rashford, Flick has found a player with qualities to start for Barca when needed, as well as a spirit to accept rotating roles and create competition. With Barca having 2 world-class winger stars, Raphinha and Yamal, finding a player like Rashford in the transfer market is not easy.
Barca still shows a need for a center forward because Lewandowski is now 37 years old and his contract expires in June this year. If Rashford stays, he is not the replacement for Lewy in this role. If he returns to Man United, Flick will have more grounds to ask the board to buy people, both in the center forward and winger positions to replace Rashford.
The option to buy Rashford outright is priced at 30 million Euros. This is a large number for Barcelona at the moment but not to the point of being impossible to solve. However, if they buy Rashford outright, Barca will hardly be able to pay the salary this striker is receiving at Manchester United (325,000 pounds/week). In the most favorable conditions, the Camp Nou team will borrow Rashford for another season.
In the Man United loan deal for Barcelona to loan Rashford, the decision did not entirely come from Ruben Amorim - the former club captain. The board wants the English striker to contribute more, based on the club's highest salary. Therefore, Amorim's dismissal does not have much impact on whether Rashford will return to Old Trafford or not.
In terms of expertise, Rashford's scoring ability during his time playing for Barca is not more outstanding than what he has at Manchester United. However, under the hand of Hansi Flick, this striker has played more creatively, as evidenced by 6 assists from the beginning of the season. If he continues to stay at Barca and learn more of the missing skills, Rashford can completely become the main force of the team in the following seasons.
