Marcus Rashford Receives Ultimate Complement From Hansi Flick
Hansi Flick has credited Marcus Rashford’s professionalism in another boost to his impressive loan spell at Barcelona.
The 28-year-old loanee was playing a major role for the Catalan giants at the beginning of the 2025-26 season, taking advantage of Raphinha’s absence from the side because of injury.
But following the return of the Brazilian, who was a worthy contender in the eyes of many for the 2025 Ballon d’Or, Rashford has started just one of Barcelona’s last six matches—a situation he was familiar with towards the end of his Manchester United tenure.
Rashford has come on a substitute at half-time in three of Barcelona’s last five matches, and his attitude and application has been clear to see as the La Liga champions have put behind them the disappointment of a 3–0 trousering at the hands of Chelsea in the Champions League to win their last four games across all competitions—a run that has seen them score 13 goals.
Osasuna are next up for Barcelona, who could stretch their lead over rivals Real Madrid to seven points with a win, and Flick reserved special praise for Rashford when speaking in his pregame news conference.
Rashford’s Mentality Where it Needs to Be
“When he is on the bench, he shows we have a good and deep squad,” Flick told reporters of Rashford. “What I can say is that he is an absolutely professional player. In the beginning he had to adapt a little bit, but now he is on his best level.
“I try to speak to every player when they are not selected, and the last time I checked with him he replied me ‘boss, you don’t have to tell me about your decisions. The most important thing is the team. We have to win the three points. The rest is not that important.
“This is the perfect mentality. I am so happy to have him.”
Rashford’s stay at Barcelona is temporary for now, though a €30 million (£26.2 million / $34.1 million) option to buy does exist in the agreement reached with United during the summer. There’s been strong suggestions that the club will go in a different direction, however, with a potential need to replace 37-year-old Robert Lewandowski topping the priority list.
Alvarez Chess and the Role Rashford Could Play
Most strongly linked to Barcelona has been Atlético Madrid striker Julián Alvarez, but it’s clear that any deal to sign the Argentine will be extremely difficult to pull off and, if it were to happen, incredibly expensive.
Nevertheless, talk of Rashford moving to Atlético in the summer has started to do the rounds in Spain, potentially opening the door for Alvarez to head to Barcelona having been linked as far back as his Manchester City days.
Unsurprisingly, Alvarez has said publicly that his focus is on performing for Atlético, rather than listening to outside noise about his future.
“Look, it doesn’t bother me,” he recently told MARCA. “I try not to pay much attention, but I know what’s being said. It’s all over social media.
“I think it’s more what’s being said online than what’s actually happening. I’m very focused on this season, on what lies ahead with Atlético de Madrid. So, I try to tune it out and think about myself, about continuing to grow as a player, and about winning.”
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