Marcus Rashford arrived at Johan Cruyff Sports City today to undergo a medical as a new signing for Barcelona. The England forward, who arrived from Manchester via private jet yesterday, headed to Barcelona's training base early this morning to take the physical examination ahead of the official announcement of his loan move.
Barcelona aims to conduct a thorough check on Rashford's physical condition, especially considering he missed the final few games of last season due to a hamstring injury during his loan spell at Aston Villa. However, after intensive training throughout the summer in Marbella to prepare for the new season, Rashford is now fully recovered and ready to play.
Having been excluded from the team's plans by Amorim, Rashford did not participate in the initial phase of Manchester United's pre-season preparations but persisted with individual training, patiently waiting for the opportunity to join Barcelona.
While awaiting the official announcement of his move to Barcelona, Rashford will also meet his new teammates today. He is expected to head to the Camp Nou offices on Wednesday afternoon to officially sign the contract with president Joan Laporta.
It is understood that Barcelona's coaching staff do not view Rashford as a backup to Robert Lewandowski in the center-forward role, but instead plan to deploy him in a tactical role of cutting inside from the left wing. In addition to Lewandowski, Frick also has Ferran Torres, who is in excellent form, and Dani Olmo, who showed occasional brilliance last season – the latter is likely to feature more in the new campaign. Rashford himself has taken a 30% pay cut to join Barcelona, with a buyout clause of around €30-35 million included in the deal.
If Barcelona fail to activate Rashford's buyout clause next summer, the club will pay Manchester United 30% of his salary as a penalty.
