Marcus Rashford’s switch saga dominated headlines all through the January window, with the ahead finally becoming a member of Aston Villa on mortgage after weeks of hypothesis linking him to Barcelona. Nevertheless, behind the scenes on the Catalan membership, his potential arrival sparked unrest within the dressing room, with a number of key gamers opposing the transfer.
The 27-year-old Manchester United ahead made it clear he was searching for a brand new problem, prompting curiosity from high European golf equipment, together with Milan, Borussia Dortmund, and Barcelona. Whereas Milan initially led the race, their priorities shifted towards signing Kyle Walker, permitting Barca to emerge as Rashford’s most well-liked vacation spot.
Nevertheless, Barcelona’s well-documented monetary struggles posed a major hurdle. With the intention to register Rashford, the membership wanted to offload gamers to unlock house on their wage invoice. Ansu Fati was recognized because the participant to depart, however the younger Spaniard refused to depart, making a deal for the Englishman inconceivable.
With the Catalans unable to finalize the required monetary preparations, Rashford ultimately sealed a last-minute transfer to Aston Villa, the place he’ll now compete in each the Premier League and Champions League. Villa additionally secured an choice to make the transfer everlasting in the summertime, including one other layer of intrigue to the participant’s future.
Dressing room backlash in opposition to Rashford deal
Whereas Barcelona’s sporting director Deco and head coach Hansi Flick backed the transfer, not everybody on the membership was on board. In line with Sport, a number of senior gamers, together with Pedri, Gavi, and Ronald Araujo, voiced their dissatisfaction with the membership’s pursuit of Rashford.
The first concern? Barcelona had solely simply regained some monetary stability after struggling below La Liga’s restrictive wage rules. Many first-team gamers had agreed to wage reductions or deferred wages to assist the membership by its disaster. These gamers felt it was unfair that as a substitute of prioritizing rewarding loyalty and renewing key contracts, the membership was seeking to spend closely on a short-term signing.
In line with Catalunya Radio’s Barca Reservat podcast: “There was a ‘increase of the hand’ from these round gamers equivalent to Pedri, Gavi, and Araújo, who’ve ended up renewing in current weeks. Their concern was that as a substitute of stabilizing the monetary scenario for present gamers, the membership was trying to herald one other high-profile signing like Rashford.”
In the end, the gamers’ considerations reached Deco, who determined to drop the pursuit of Rashford. As an alternative, Barcelona shifted its focus to securing contract renewals for key gamers, guaranteeing long-term squad stability relatively than a brief enhance.
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