Why Barcelona could not sign Marcus Rashford during January transfer window | OneFootball

Barcelona were never in a realistic position to sign Marcus Rashford during the January transfer window, despite the Spanish giants being his favoured destination.

Having fallen out of favour with Ruben Amorim at Manchester United over performances in training, Rashford’s future was the subject of intense speculation from December onwards.

AC Milan, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund were also linked, with Milan in particular falling off the table once a deal was done for Kyle Walker and filling up their last non-EU player slot.

Barcelona links were also there until Villa's interest arose and accelerated and, according to The Athletic, the Catalans were Rashford's first choice to join. There were even meetings that took place between the player's camp and Barca officials, but finances didn't allow things to progress.

Barcelona still didn't have the financial strength to take Rashford / Eurasia Sport Images/GettyImages

Barcelona's financial health is recovering after several years of struggles, widely reported at the start of January to have returned to 1:1 spending rules. Renewing their contract with Nike and selling off VIP boxes at the as-yet-unfinished refurbished Camp Nou were the critical deals.

However, the impact of that hasn't been instant in terms of the transfer market. Caution still needed to be taken in January, with it necessary to first offload fringe players before bringing new ones in. Ultimately, there wasn't sufficient interest from suitors to do that, with the club also using the boost to capital to prioritise new contracts for existing players like Pedri and Ronald Araujo.

Barcelona are also only just over the saga that saw Dani Olmo and Pau Victor de-registered, with the club having used loopholes to get both summer signings into their squad for the first half of the season. That issue still hasn't been fully resolved, given that temporary registration has only been granted by Spain's national sports council until a full appeal investigation is complete. Other La Liga clubs have also since complained, with Barcelona seemingly able to circumvent rules after the deadline was missed.