Rashford transfer ‘almost’ collapses but Manchester United ‘are the biggest winners’ of £25m loan
Marcus Rashford was ‘almost scuppered’ in his mission to join Barcelona from Manchester United because of a slight delay from back-up airport of choice.
Marc of the man
It feels like The Sun know precisely what they’re doing with this headline…
‘Marcus Rashford endures journey from hell as Man Utd star’s transfer to Barcelona is almost scuppered by OASIS’
…about a prominent and well-remunerated professional footballer with a poor public perception fuelled by an established history of negative and often targeted press coverage, who had to travel about an hour out of his way to board a private jet from a different airport because one of the Gallagher brothers had already taken up all the air space, facing another slight delay before setting off.
They at least do not stick ‘journey from hell’ in quote marks backed up by a tweet from someone with about five followers, because the crucial distinction is that specifically The Sun themselves are calling that – a relatively quick drive and then flight to Barcelona for Rashford to complete his dream move, mind you – a ‘journey from hell’.
It is even accompanied with a graphic depicting this ‘NIGHTMARE JOURNEY’ with a ‘massive detour’, with a map which for absolutely no good reason whatsoever includes a good portion of the rest of Europe but only Germany signposted, presumably because of the war.
Those of a nervous disposition should probably look away now because this is harrowing stuff:
That is awful. Our thoughts are with Marcus. And to be clear, our ridicule and derision is aimed not for one second at him but at the really quite weird media desperate to make him seem pampered and detached from reality over this mild inconvenience.
A reminder that his move to Barcelona was supposedly ‘almost scuppered’ by this slight delay, as if this is actually September 1 and he faces a rush to beat the deadline. Unless they mean his literal airport ‘transfer’, in which case listen, fair play.
As a source told The Sun, while the travel plans ‘were disrupted’ and ‘it was all a bit stressful,’ he ‘would have walked to Barcelona to sign for them’.
That would be a sodding ‘NIGHTMARE JOURNEY’ worthy of a lazy diagram, not this mosey down the A50.
MORE MARCUS RASHFORD COVERAGE FROM F365
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Rash scream
It is great fun to see Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News explain in painstaking detail how ‘Manchester United are the biggest winners in Marcus Rashford deal after Barcelona changed their mind’.
‘United have done extremely well to get Rashford off the books before August,’ he writes, clearly not realising his journey to Barcelona is likely to extend to next month at least.
And that is about as far as Luckhurst goes in terms of this being a positive move for Manchester United. They should definitely be happy to free up about £15m in terms of wages but the idea they ‘are the biggest winners’ here is absurd.
Luckhurst tries to pretend this is a stupid move for Barcelona, who are signing proven elite cover for two different attacking positions to allow maximum rotation across different competitions.
The Spanish side also have a buy option of around £25m on a 27-year-old England international with 159 goals and 89 assists in 505 career appearances, who Manchester United wanted £40m for earlier in the summer.
Rashford also probably doesn’t feel particularly frustrated at having to join actual Barcelona in a World Cup year, even with a pay cut, to keep competing for trophies and playing Champions League football.
But no, ‘Manchester United are the biggest winners’ here because their head coach made it untenable for their highest earner and most prominent academy product in decades to stay.
Me and my heart we got issues
There is something phenomenally David Moyes Era about this feature from the Daily Mirror in which David McDonnell explains ‘four issues Ruben Amorim must solve during Manchester United’s pre-season tour.
They include:
‘Scoring more goals’
‘Getting the best out of Cunha’ (is that not part of ‘scoring more goals’?)
‘Establishing a settled defence’
‘Addressing a vulnerable midfield’
Christ, they’re only out there for a couple of weeks.
But also why stop there? What about sorting the goalkeeper situation? Do they not need to improve in terms of passing and creating chances?
He’s not finish
”A good season will be…’ – Man Utd ace reveals club’s modest target for 2025/26 campaign after 15th placed horror show’ – The Sun website from July 21 on Amad wanting a top-five finish.
‘Man Utd set ambitious target for next season after worst Premier League campaign of all time’ – The Sun website from May 12 the club’s reported targeting of a top-six finish.
Holding out hope
‘Former Arsenal star Rob Holding, 29, lined up for shock MLS transfer’ – The Sun website.
Mediawatch is struggling to think of a more indelibly MLS player than 29-year-old Crystal Palace outcast who spent the second half of last season on loan at Sheffield United, Rob Holding.
