More than a player – Marcus Rashford gets the chance to save his career in Barcelona

Things are off to a good start: that's the impression Marcus Rashford is giving FC Barcelona fans from the Far East. Last week, the striker's loan from Manchester United was agreed, and he immediately showed his class in friendly matches in Japan and Korea. Technique, pace, and goal-scoring ability: "Marcus is a great player whom I've followed since the beginning of his career," says coach Hansi Flick. "Hopefully, he can show his full potential here."

Rarely has a loan deal aroused as much curiosity as this one. The new signing's nationality alone guarantees this. Rashford is English, a rarity in the Barça cosmos. Since Winterthur native Hans Gamper, founder of Football Club Barcelona in 1899, relied on a strong contingent of British expats for his creation, only one Englishman has played for the first team: Gary Lineker, the star striker of the 1980s and later a star broadcaster.

This remained the case, despite the fact that all intra-European transfer barriers had been lifted in the wake of the Bosman ruling. The more Barça embraced the Dutch philosophy of Johan Cruyff and sublimated it in short-passing football under Frank Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola, the more incompatible the robust, athletic footballer from the island was considered.

But things have changed. German player Flick likes technical skills, of course, but also direct and fast. Last season, he successfully adapted the Barça model into the present. "Flick was a key factor in getting here," says Rashford.

At the age of 27, he was determined to go to Barcelona – and only to Barcelona. "My decision was easy," he says. The fact that he's starting as a backup for the established attacking quartet of Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, and Dani Olmo doesn't bother him much at first; the fact that he was only the third option for the permanent position doesn't bother him either. Spain striker Nico Williams, who had initially offered a contract, ended up extending his contract with Athletic Bilbao for ten years – not least because of his doubts about Barça's tight financial situation.

Money also thwarted the acquisition of Liverpool's Luis Díaz, who instead moved to Bayern Munich for €75 million. Rashford, on the other hand, comes for free and accepted a 25 percent reduction in his salary in Manchester. If both sides agree, Barça can acquire him next summer for a fixed fee of €30 million.

Rashford is coming to a club in the usual institutional chaos, which has to play its season opening match for the Gamper Cup next Sunday in a small second stadium because the Camp Nou construction site still does not meet minimum safety standards, even a year after the originally planned move-in date.

But he's also joining a team brimming with talent, determined to make up for the Champions League title they missed out on in a somewhat euphoric preseason. For Rashford, this represents a welcome irony: he's, in a way, getting a career setback embellished with an upgrade.

Rashford, which is another factor that makes this loan deal so exciting, was once destined to become the figurehead of contemporary English football—at least of Manchester United. Dynamic, a strong dribbler, versatile (although he prefers the left wing), with impressive athleticism and brilliant shooting technique: the youngest of five children born to a single mother in a working-class neighborhood of Manchester was considered the best product of the club's youth system since the Beckham generation.

With his charisma, he quickly became an icon even beyond the city limits: numerous footballers, even tennis star Novak Djokovic and, most recently, Barça prodigy Yamal, copied his goal celebration of standing upright and holding his index finger to his temple.

In Rashford's prime, critics were hard-pressed to decide which captivated them more: the footballer who at least shone a light through the gloom at United since the departure of legendary manager Alex Ferguson. Or the empathetic, widely acclaimed Order of the British Empire recipient and honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester.

Rashford distributed hundreds of food and clothing packages to the homeless as part of a self-initiated campaign; he judged a deaf poetry competition and learned their language; he organized the distribution of books to children from disadvantaged backgrounds and became a writer himself: he received the British Book Award for "You Are a Champion."

He became a social powerhouse during the coronavirus pandemic . Rashford ("I know what hunger feels like") helped raise over £20 million in donations to provide school lunch replacements for vulnerable children and successfully lobbied for politicians to continue the program.

Then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised Rashford as "more effective" at controlling the government than the parliamentary opposition. The Sunday Times ranked him first in its "Giving List" of Britain's greatest philanthropists.

Sad as the times are, Rashford became a particular target of racists because of his activism when he hit the post in the penalty shootout loss of the 2021 European Championship final against Italy. He let this only temporarily deter him.

He made the 2022/23 season the best of his career, scoring 30 goals. Coaches repeatedly highlighted his resilience under pressure as one of his most important qualities; his distinctive goal celebration is meant to symbolize precisely this mental strength. What derailed Rashford's career were more likely antics. At least, that's how it was portrayed at his club.

Under coach Erik ten Hag, he had already been punished for celebrating his birthday despite a derby defeat, arriving late to a team meeting, and calling in sick for a cup match after a tequila-fueled bash in Belfast. His successor, Rúben Amorim, then pronounced the death sentence after further party rumors: "I'd rather play Vital (the 63-year-old goalkeeping coach, ed.) than a player who doesn't give his all every day."

The ambassador of Manchester, the child of the club he joined at the age of eight – all that was over. Like many other players in the post-Ferguson era, Rashford leaves the question whether it was his fault or the United of those years, often described as toxic. Perhaps both, because the decline of a team in fifteenth place simply demotivated him somewhat.

In Catalonia, he can now demonstrate how far his talent can take him – after a six-month loan at Aston Villa went well enough to avoid disqualification. At Barça, where they see themselves as "més que un club" and by this, not least, their social commitment, they are delighted to have signed someone who is more than just a player.

And for everything else, they point to Flick, who is considered the epitome of work ethic and, in his first season, helped players like Raphinha reach a level they had never seen before at Barcelona. If Rashford can't make it there, the impression is, he won't make it anywhere.

At the crossroads of his career, he will wear the number 14, the number of club saint Cruyff and also that of his idol, Thierry Henry. "A historic number," Rashford enthuses, "everything at this club is unique." A lot of history surrounds his arrival. Now he just has to continue writing it.