Marcus Rashford has done his part in pre-season. Now Barca need to do theirs

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Barcelona are heading back home from their pre-season trip to Japan and South Korea with plenty of encouragement for the new campaign, Marcus Rashford’s positive start among them.

The 27-year-old played a part in each of Barca’s three matches on tour but enjoyed his brightest moment in Monday’s final fixture, scoring his first goal for the club in a 5-0 victory over Daegu FC.

Having featured in Barca’s first two pre-season fixtures as a left winger from the bench, Hansi Flick used him as a central striker for the first time (also from the bench) and the Englishman provided a powerful finish from Eric Garcia’s cross.

El primer gol de Marcus Rashford 🔵🔴🦁 pic.twitter.com/8ktH6dfSPt

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) August 4, 2025

However, there wasn’t much of a celebration to mark a strike that put Barca 5-0 clear over vastly inferior opponents — a common theme in last Sunday’s 3-1 win over Vissel Kobe and Thursday’s 7-3 victory against FC Seoul, in which Rashford assisted for Ferran Torres.

Rashford has not set the world alight, but he has been decent. His performances will certainly convince fans (and Flick) that he can play a role for the team this season. That role, however, looks to be a backup one for now.

Barca don’t play their first La Liga game until August 16, and a lot can happen before then, but in their three warm-up matches so far, it has been clear to see who Flick favours at the moment.

Only four Barca players started each of those games: Joan Garcia, Alejandro Balde, Raphinha and Lamine Yamal. The last two are without question Flick’s go-to options in attack, with Robert Lewandowski’s central spot the one that seems more up for grabs.

Lewandowski and Rashford during the 3-1 win over Vissel Kobe (Koji Watanabe/Getty Images)

But Barca’s backroom staff see Torres, for now, as the better option for Lewandowski’s replacement in a central role. Torres scored two goals against Seoul and was rested in the last game against Daegu for load management reasons, according to the club.

That would leave Rashford’s best immediate chance of La Liga minutes as understudy to Raphinha on Barca’s left wing. That is where Flick’s staff currently envisage him playing primarily — although they also know he’s versatile enough to operate in other areas.

Rashford does look refreshed and he seems willing to embrace the challenge of fighting for minutes in one of the most stacked attacks in Europe. Judging by recent comments (made in the mixed zone after Barca’s win over Seoul), he does not appear to be worried by potentially limited gametime this term.

“How many goals do I think I will score? A hundred!” he joked with a laugh on his face when asked about the expectations set on him.

“Just as many as I can, really. I know it’s going to be different, playing in a new country and a new league, but I accept the challenge. The quality in training is really high, the intensity is as well. There are a lot of good players here, of course I knew them before coming here.

“I can play in different positions, score goals from all of them. It’s just about being able to score goals from different areas and create that threat. Hopefully, we can go one step further than last year and win the Champions League as well.”

Barcelona are yet to register Rashford with La Liga (Paul Miller/Getty Images)

Rashford’s new team-mates, meanwhile, have been impressed with his attitude. According to sources at Barca who wished to remain anonymous as they did not have permission to comment, he has been very careful about starting on the right foot with every individual in the dressing room.

Jules Kounde, who sat next to him on Barca’s flight to Japan, said the Manchester United loanee “reminds me a bit of myself”.

Speaking in another post-match mixed zone, the Frenchman added: “He might be a bit of an introvert at the start, but it’s normal. He’s getting more and more comfortable, and every team-mate received him very warmly. He is very happy, you can see it when he is on the pitch smiling all the time.”

On the pitch, Rashford has not tried to overdo things or prove a point too quickly. In his first appearance, in 33 minutes from the bench against Vissel Kobe, he tried to combine as much as possible with Lewandowski — even in chances when he could have tried a shot. Four days later against Seoul, he came on at half-time and did the same with Torres, when the Spain international was operating as a No 9 alongside him.

“He wants to do things well, is very humble and wants to respect every individual in there,” a dressing-room source told The Athletic. “And on the pitch, he has shown the right commitment.”

On that subject, one particular move stood out during the pre-season tour.

In the 64th minute of the match against Vissel Kobe, Barcelona lost possession and the hosts broke out on the counter. Rashford (circled red in the screengrabs below) was caught reasonably far from the action.

But as soon as he saw the Vissel Kobe right-back trying to overlap, he tracked back to his own box with no hesitation.

This is the sort of work rate that is non-negotiable for Flick, and those around the backroom staff say they were pleased with what they saw.

So far, so good, then? Not quite.

With their La Liga opener 11 days away, Rashford is still not registered as a Barca player. Until he is registered, he will not be eligible to play in any competitive fixtures. If he is not registered by the time the transfer window closes, Barca would not be able to register him until it opens again in January.

Barca sources insist they are confident they can register each of the players they need to before the 2025-26 season starts. Besides Rashford, they still have to register new signings Joan Garcia and Roony Bardghji, as well as the returning Wojciech Szczesny. Gerard Martin, who previously did not require registration as he was a youth player, also needs to be registered now as a first-teamer.

The club’s main priority is to register Joan Garcia before anyone else, because with Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s injury, back-up Inaki Pena is currently their only goalkeeper eligible for La Liga.

“I’m not worried, I think it’s something for the club to sort out,” Rashford replied to reporters when asked about his registration after the Seoul match.

“I believe they are going to get it sorted, so I just focus on the training and being ready for the start of the season.”

Rashford has done his part in pre-season, now it’s on the club to do theirs.

(Top photo: Koji Watanabe/Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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