Barcelona have made the their attack the priority position to reinforce in the January transfer window, and Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford their priority target. However several things must fall into place for the operation to be consummated.
According to SportBarcelona have reached an agreement with Marcus Rashford for the player to join on loan for the second half of the season. They say that Rashford is set on playing for Barcelona, and will wait until the final stages of the transfer market to try and do so, despite interest from Borussia Dortmund in doing a similar deal.
The reason for the delay is once again Barcelona’s salary limit. The Blaugrana need to free up space in their salary limit in order to absorb Rashford’s wages for the second half of the season, despite returning to the ‘1:1 rule’. The total amount Barcelona must cover is €9m, half of his annual wages, although it is noted that this could be reduced if Barcelona reach a compromise with Manchester United.
Barcelona were hoping that Aston Villa’s interest in Oscar Mingueza, for whom they will receive 50% of his transfer fee, could return €10m for them, sufficient to bring in Rashford. However with their signing of Andres Garcia from Levante makes that unlikely now.
Another avenue would be the exit of Eric Garcia, who has been heavily linked with Girona. Barcelona’s Catalan neighbours are currently offering €7m plus €3m in variables for Garcia though, which would be sufficient for the Rashford deal to happen – the Blaugrana would also save around €6m in Garcia’s wages. Ansu Fati is another who could leave, but has so far been reluctant, and is unlikely to bring in much in terms of a fee.
Since Pau Cubarsí’s debut, only two centre-backs in Europe’s top leagues have played more official matches with their respective clubs: Virgil van Dijk (33) with Liverpool and Berat Djimsiti (31) with Atalanta, both with 55 appearances. Incredibly, Cubarsí is just 17 years old… pic.twitter.com/cKHlpIRs6S
— Barcacentre (@barcacentre) January 20, 2025
Outside of Fati, Pau Victor and Ferran Torres are Hansi Flick’s only other options in attack. Whether Rashford would be able to displace Raphinha or Robert Lewandowski in the forward line is another question to be answered though, and Rashford could be restricted to an option off the bench. If Barcelona cannot get the money together quickly enough though, Dortmund’s attempts to sign him could tip the balance too, with the German side a more reliable option at this point.
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