Deco on Marcus Rashford – “We were able to sign him because of his desire to play for Barcelona”

In the summer, Barcelona were only able to complete three signings due to their financial woes, with one of those being Marcus Rashford. The 28-year-old arrived in Catalonia on a season-long loan, although an option to buy has also been agreed with Manchester United, his parent club.

Rashford has made a strong start to life in Spain, and it has been noted in England that he looks reinvigorated – especially in comparison to his latter stages of his time at Old Trafford. As per The Times, Barcelona sporting director Deco addressed this, stating that the weight of pressure got to the forward.

“He’s happy with us. Marcus is a fantastic player. He faced the responsibility of becoming an important player at Man United – 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 people demand a lot from. When you are an important player, you have a lot of responsibility.”

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Deco: Rashford was an ideal signing for Barcelona

Barcelona are already reported to be working on signing Rashford, which is no surprise given his form this season. But it is not only this, as Deco made clear when discussing why the Catalans brought him in initially.

“We were looking for a player like him on the market. 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.”