Marcus Rashford may be set to join Barcelona, but registration issues could still prevent the Englishman from playing.
The Manchester United forward has arrived in Spain to complete his season-long loan to the LaLiga champions, after agreeing to take a significant wage cut to seal the move.
Rashford is now poised to put pen to paper over an 12-month loan with an option to buy, after United gave the green light to the deal.
The 27-year-old was told he had no future at Old Trafford, but will see his earnings take a hit at the Camp Nou.
He is one of Manchester United’s highest-paid players, earning in excess of £325,000-a-week, and talkSPORT understands Barca will cover 100 per cent of these wages during his loan spell.
However, Rashford has had to accept a significant salary reduction to make the move happen, which will see him earn around €10m [£8.6m] gross, including bonuses – a huge drop from his £16.9m-per-year wages at United.
Barcelona made the England international their top transfer target this summer after missing out on Spain star Nico Williams, who penned a new long-term deal with Athletic Bilbao instead.
With the Spanish giants facing financial difficulties in recent years, LaLiga president Javier Tebas claimed Williams‘ move fell through as the club were unable to guarantee his registration.
Last season, Barca made the headlines after they were only able to register new signings Dani Olmo and Pau Victor after the season had started, and later saw their registrations voided amid an ongoing battle with the Spanish football council.
And according to talkSPORT’s Andy Brassell, this is an issue which could again impact Rashford in Spain.
Speaking on the Trans Europe Express, Brassell explained “He’s taking a pay cut to make this happen, but there’s still no guarantee, certainly if you believe Javier Tebas, the president of LaLiga, that Barcelona will be able to register him for the moment.
“That is something that we have to keep an eye on, as with every Barcelona signing. That was what made Nico Williams back out of the deal.”
“Rashford doesn’t have an enormous amount of options, partly because of his salary, partly because of a disappointing last couple of years, even if he did show bits of his old self at Aston Villa.
“Both sides needed this to happen quite badly, which I think is great news for Marcus Rashford, it’s great news for England, and if it all works, it’s good news for Barcelona as well.”
Despite question marks over when he might be able to play for Barcelona, Rashford’s move represents a chance to revive his career.
Having spent the second-half of last season on loan at Aston Villa, he was told he has no future at United under manager Ruben Amorim.
The United academy graduate impressed at Villa Park with four goals and six assists in 17 appearances, but Unai Emery and his club decided to pass on their option to sign him permanently for £40m.
And with Rashford now on the brink of joining Barcelona, talkSPORT’s Chief Football Correspondent Alex Crook broke down the steps he has taken to make his dream move happen.
Crook said: “What he’s done is, he’s waived some bonuses and image rights, it does equate to around €10m a year in his pay packet that he’s waived in order to get this dream move for Barcelona.
“We’ve been speaking for some time that this was really the only club that he wanted to go to this summer.
“I don’t think they were ever going to make a permanent offer for Barca because they know that Manchester United are so desperate to get rid of Marcus Rashford.
“His relationship with Ruben Amorim has been broken beyond repair. There is a buy option in the deal. It’s a bit cheaper than the one they negotiated with Villa in January.
“I’m told it’s around the £30 million mark. He arrived in Barcelona overnight.”
One of his former teammates, Paul Pogba, was happy for Rashford to get that move to Barca and insisted United are losing a great player.
“That’s crazy, but I’m happy for him because they [United] took his number,” Pogba told streamer IShowSpeed.
“Manchester United are losing a great player. Unlucky for them.
“It’s great for Barcelona to be honest. I’m not even talking about United, because they’ve bought a few new players and the new manager wants to do his thing I guess.
“It’s not really his [Amorim’s] fault. If he doesn’t believe in someone. He needs to win. If he doesn’t win they’re going to sack him.”