Barcelona confirm Marcus Rashford loan from Manchester United with buy option

Barcelona have signed Marcus Rashford on a season-long loan from Manchester United with an option to buy. The forward joins after falling out of favour under Ruben Amorim at his boyhood club.

“I want to win the biggest trophies and feel like Barcelona is a huge club in the football world so it is the perfect place,” Rashford said in an official unveiling by the Spanish club. “You see with the team last season, they have a young ambitious team and I want to add my qualities, my personality, improve the team and help them win.”

Rashford was one of five United players made to train away from Amorim’s squad this summer. The England international, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Aston Villa, has been training at a gym in Salford and at United’s Carrington base, although only after first-team players have left.

The 27-year-old forward has three years remaining on a £325,000-a-week contract at Old Trafford. Barcelona said he would become the 10th man to play for them and United, after Mark Hughes, Laurent Blanc, Henrik Larsson, Jordi Cruyff, Gerard Piqué, Víctor Valdés, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alexis Sánchez and Memphis Depay.

“The player has signed his contract as a Barça player this afternoon at a private meeting in the presence of the FC Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, the director of the football area and other board members,” Barcelona said in a statement.

Rashford said: “I was clear on my preference from the beginning. It didn’t work out in January so I went to Aston Villa and enjoyed a good period there. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to play there. The summer came around very quickly, it was time to make another decision. My choice was easy. It’s a family club, something I’m used to from my past.”