Marcus Rashford is a man reborn in Barcelona after getting his dream move, but his biggest career nemesis remains as strong as ever, and it needs to be beaten for him to secure his dream move.
Barcelona signed Marcus Rashford on an initial loan deal, and unlike Jadon Sancho’s move to Chelsea last year, they have no obligation to purchase.
Even though Rashford has done well at Barcelona so far, including some truly masterful displays in the Champions League and moments of magic in other games, his future is in limbo.
Barcelona are known for being stingy negotiators, and Rashford’s wage will be a stumbling block unless he conquers his biggest career nemesis.
Manchester United and England player Marcus Rashford looks on during the La Liga match between Real Mallorca and Barcelona at the Mallorca Son Moix Stadium in 2025 in Mallorca, Spain.
Photo by Rafa Babot/Getty Images
Marcus Rashford’s biggest career nemesis
There are no counterarguments to the narrative that Rashford is a supremely talented player with a penchant for the audacious.
He’s clearly a player who unlocks another level to his game when he’s feeling calm, confident, and most importantly, happily secure.
It’s why his effort and professionalism deserted him at Old Trafford, something he rediscovered immediately upon landing his dream move.
Spanish outlet Estadio Deportivo now say that he needs to conquer his biggest career nemesis, his lack of consistency, to make his Barcelona move ‘inevitable’.
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They write, “At Barça, Rashford has found the perfect environment to relaunch his career. His immediate impact, his commitment, and his connection with Flick have made him one of the biggest draws of the season.
“If he maintains this level of form, paying the 30 million euros could cease to be an option and become an inevitable decision.”
The section in bold letters in the above write-up is the crux of the issue, and it’s something that plagued him at Man Utd as well.
He would regularly follow a world-class season with a frustrating one, leading to questions over his mentality, because he seemed to like to prove people wrong with a good season.
However, once he had done that, he would rest on his laurels until the next cycle of criticism. That’s not a healthy way to operate and drains you mentally, which is eventually what happened to him in England.
Rashford needs to treat it as his last chance saloon
There were eyebrows raised when Rashford even got his move to Barcelona, because a Man Utd reject, of a team which finished 15th in the league, no less, doesn’t usually join serial winners.
However, Barcelona banked on him rediscovering his form in a new setting, driven to prove people wrong, as noted above.
The difference in this case is that even if, and when he secures his permanent move to Barcelona, which the Spanish press above says is effectively ‘inevitable’, he cannot afford to rest.
Barcelona will have no time for his frustrated antics if he leans back that way after achieving his goal of a permanent move.
This is effectively a last chance saloon for him because if he fails to deliver at Barcelona, then the only way in his career is downwards.
He’s reached a peak by convincing Barcelona of his talents. Now he needs to keep it up by conquering his biggest career nemesis – consistency.