Barcelona sporting director Deco has suggested that Marcus Rashford suffered from being “too young” when he entered the Manchester United spotlight, coinciding with a challenging moment in the club’s modern history, and is now “happy” again at Camp Nou.
Rashford scored 138 goals in 426 appearances for United from the age of 18 onwards, unexpectedly debuting with a bang in 2016. But the club has been through multiple transitions from different managerial regimes and rebuilds throughout the almost decade since, with Rashford himself perhaps unfairly burdened with a leading role in an underperforming team from the age of 21.
Even though he flourished during the 2022–23 campaign in particular under Erik ten Hag—becoming the only United player since Sir Alex Fergusion retired 10 years earlier to score 30 goals in a single season—Rashford had otherwise put up consistently poor numbers since 2021.
After being unceremoniously pushed to the fringes by Ruben Amorim within weeks of the Portuguese coach’s appointment last November, Rashford finished 2024–25 with Aston Villa and then joined Barcelona for the duration of 2025–26. With 17 goals and assists to his name in only 18 appearances for the club so far, it’s clear that the 28-year-old has got his mojo back.
“He’s happy with us,” Deco explained in an interview with , hinting that Rashford had become the opposite with his life at United.
“Marcus is a fantastic player. He faced the responsibility of becoming an important player at Man Utd—United, like us, are one of the biggest clubs in the world—too young. He suffered a bit with this change of generation at United too. If you see United in the last five years, they had difficulties rebuilding the team, to become stronger again. He was there. So, it’s not easy for a player [from whom] people demand a lot. When you are an important player, you have a lot of responsibility.”
Barcelona had gone into the 2025 summer transfer window again targeting Athletic Club winger Nico Williams, but again fell short of convincing the Spain international—or having the financial means—to leave home in Bilbao. Rashford always appeared a backup target, a perception that club president Joan Laporta refuted once the Englishman was actually signed.
Looking back now, Deco claims that Rashford was an ideal recruit because of his versatility to fill all three attacking roles up front—on either flank or as a No. 9 though the middle.
“We were looking for a player like him on the market,” the retired midfielder continued. “A player that could play in the three positions up front. We were able to sign Marcus on loan now because of his desire to play for Barcelona. He waited a lot. He knew that we were dealing with financial rules. But he was patient. He waited and we’re happy to have him.”
