Barcelona coach Hansi Flick has been closely following Marcus Rashford's career since he began to shine for Manchester United. Therefore, when the opportunity to borrow the English striker appeared last summer, Flick did not hesitate to express his opinion to Sports Director Deco.
"I told him that we had to do it. Marcus Rashford is a great player, exactly the type of player we need" - Flick shared.
Barcelona's original plan was to give Rashford time to gradually integrate into the new environment - adapt to life in Spain and better understand the philosophy that Flick wanted. However, a series of injuries in attack forced him to quickly take on an important role in the reigning La Liga champions.
Rashford has played 11 times in all competitions so far and is one of only four players to feature in all competitions. The other three are Pedri, Eric Garcia and Jules Kounde. With 3 goals and 4 assists, the English striker is leading the list of goals contributors for Barca before entering the pivotal week of the season.
Barca will host Olympiacos in the Champions League, in an effort to win all 3 points to forget the defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the previous match. After that, Rashford will have the opportunity to experience the fiery atmosphere of El Clasico for the first time when Barcelona visits Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu.
Rashford's future at Barcelona will not be decided by what he showed against Olympiacos or even Real Madrid. His fate will be decided for the rest of the season - when Barca aims to compete in all major competitions.
Last season, the Catalan team won the domestic treble with La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup, only stopping in the Champions League semi-finals. If they want to take a step forward this year, they need all the most important players to reach the highest level of performance, including Rashford.
From there, the final decision on the English striker's future will be made. However, as usual in the Blaugrana, things are rarely simple. A key factor is the club's presidential election scheduled to take place next year.
incumbent president Joan Laporta is likely to run for re-election, and despite him being a leading candidate, the race still promises to be tense. Candidates often rely on promises of "blockbuster" contracts to run for office. And Laporta has done it before.
If those who want to sit in the Chairman's chair commit to spending 100 million Euros to bring home a certain "X star", then what will happen to the 30 million Euros needed to buy Rashford? Especially in the context that Barca is still bound by the La Liga financial fair play law.
Some inside sources at Barca have also expressed skepticism about this fee, saying that the figure of 30 million Euros is almost obvious. In fact, the decision will depend on Rashford's form, financial situation, election results, and who will take over as coach or sporting director next season.
The only thing that can be confirmed is that Barca will not have to pay any penalty if they do not buy Rashford - different from the clause Chelsea signed when borrowing Jadon Sancho.
"There is no penalty in the loan deal if we don't sign him. We have the right to choose to sign a long-term contract if we want to. Now, the important thing is that the whole team is satisfied with Rashford's performance" - Deco confirmed.
