Why Marcus Rashford could revive his career at Barcelona?

Marcus Rashford is proving us right when we said players perform better when they leave Manchester United.

The Englishman spent the second half of last season on loan at Aston Villa, and he led them to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

Ruben Amorim still did not want him to play on his team again, and he flirted with Barcelona until the Catalans added him to their squad.

Rashford was a last resort after Barca had failed to sign Nico Williams from Athletic Club, Gabriel Martinelli from Arsenal and Luis Diaz from Liverpool.

He desired to play for them and waited until the Catalans looked his way and added him to their squad on loan.

Fans who buy Barcelona tickets were not so convinced, and his debut in pre-season was not one to remember.

However, Rashford has maintained the trust of his manager, with Hansi Flick a fan of the Englishman.

As the season has progressed, he has been inconsistent, but he is clearly getting better with every game he plays.

Last season, Barcelona were an unstoppable force in domestic football, and they also did well in Europe and reached the semifinal of the Champions League.

This term, they have started slowly, which has led Real Madrid to overtake them in the La Liga standings.

There is still so much time to cash up, and the Catalans can do so, but they will need to get good performances from the likes of Rashford.

Why did he begin to decline at Manchester United

In recent times, there has been no better player who has come out of the Manchester United academy than Rashford.

In the 2022/2023 season, Rashford reached a new level of performance as Erik Ten Hag became the Manchester United manager.

The gaffer was more than happy to work with him and transformed the attacker into a prolific goalscorer as Rashford scored some very fine goals.

He scored 17 times in the Premier League, matching his previous best during the 2019/2020 season.

We were all convinced that Rashford has now reached a level where he will deliver goals consistently, but the attacker soon suffered a decline.

In the following term, he scored just eight goals in 43 games in all competitions as he proved to be a liability and nearly cost Erik Ten Hag his job.

His declining form continued in the next campaign, and Ten Hag was replaced by Ruben Amorim.

His struggles to get back to form saw him banished from the United team, and he spent the second half of last season on loan at Aston Villa.

Rashford did well at Villa, but the end of his story at United had been written when he made that move to Villa Park, so no matter how he performed, it would be hard for him to enter the good books of Amorim.

His struggles at United made us believe he has always been an overrated player, but at Villa and now in Barcelona, he is proving that he is one of the finest talents around, who might just be a victim of United always making players worse than they are.

As one of the world’s top clubs, Manchester United tickets continue to sell quickly and well, thanks to their very loyal fan base.

Why did Rashford struggle at Manchester United?

Rashford is not the only player who has struggled at Manchester United in the last few seasons, and their current squad is filled with underperforming stars.

He is already having good games at Barcelona and making it look clear that there are deep issues at United that are stopping them from achieving worthwhile success. So why did he struggle at Manchester United?

Frequent managerial changes

There are many factors that could affect a team’s stability, but perhaps the biggest of them is the longevity of their manager.

As a team that enjoyed success for a long time under one manager, United has spent the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era chasing after the same success he handed them.

The club has failed to recognise that Fergie is a rare breed, so this has led to them changing managers almost every season.

Louis van Gaal gave Rashford his debut for United in 2016, but the Dutchman left the club that same year.

Jose Mourinho took over from him, and Rashford was a key player as United won the Europa League in 2017, but Mourinho was fired a year later.

Club legend, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, arrived as his replacement and oversaw one of the most stable periods in the post-Fergie era, but he lost his job in 2021.

The club handed the role to Michael Carrick for two months between November and December 2021, before Ralf Rangnick was made manager until May 2022.

He was replaced by Erik ten Hag, who got the best from Rashford in the 2022/2023 season, but the Dutchman was asked by the start of the 2024/2025 season, to be replaced by Ruben Amorim.

Rashford has had seven managers at Manchester United in under ten years as a Manchester United player, which has inevitably had a negative effect on his career.

Frequent position changes

While scoring a brace on his debut for United, Rashford played as a number nine, but he only started that match because several key attackers were injured.

When they returned to fitness, he had to return to the bench, and the attacker then started playing on the left wing, where he also thrived.

During his career, he has played in both spots, but he has also been tried on the right wing as United tried to accommodate other big-name stars they were signing.

Not spending all or most of his time in one position has also affected Rashford, no doubt, and it has contributed to his failure in a United shirt.

Lack of a clear playing pattern

Because United was constantly changing managers, they also almost always changed how the team played.

Every gaffer has his own system, and the striker found himself having to adapt to new instructions every time a new coach is brought in.

Teams like Manchester City and Liverpool have had the same manager since 2015 and 2016, with Jurgen Klopp only leaving Liverpool last year.

This means the Reds and City have been playing the same way for years, and their players already know how to perform.

This continuity enables their players to maintain consistency and achieve legendary status at the club.

Why Rashford could revive his career at Barcelona

Rashford knows that this is his chance to earn a move away from the chaos and negative energy at Manchester United.

He has started showing great form, which will make it harder for Barcelona not to sign him on a permanent deal.

At the Catalan club, he is playing with much better players than those that United have, and he is also playing under a consistent system.

When he gets used to the demands from his manager and can fit into the playing pattern, he will not worry about changes happening.

Hansi Flick is also a coach who knows how to get the best from wide players, so he is the perfect gaffer for Rashford, which will make it easier for him to perform better.