For several days, an atmosphere of mystery has surrounded the arrival of Marcus Rashford in Barcelona. Announced as the new recruit of the Catalan club, the English striker has however not been officially presented by Barça. While the transfers of this caliber give rise, in normal times, to spectacular announcements, images shared in mass and orchestrated public appearances, that of Rashford took place in a quasi-clandestinity. No net cliché of the player has been published since his arrival in Catalonia, and the silence of the club fuels questions.
However, everything suggests that its transfer is very real and in the process of formalization. After an agreement found with Manchester United last Saturday, Rashford joined Barcelona the next day, discreetly. Since then, each stage – from his arrival at the airport to his first steps at the Ciudad Deportiva – took place away from eyes. Back on the first 48 enigmatic hours of Marcus Rashford in Catalan land, between concealment maneuvers, confirmed rumors, and imminence of a historical signature.
Rashford plays hide and seek
The first day of Marcus Rashford in Barcelona was marked by a strange, almost clandestine atmosphere, contrasting with the media bustle that usually arouses the arrival of a player of his caliber. After the agreement reached on Saturday between Manchester United and the Catalan club, the English striker took a private flight on Sunday afternoon to Barcelona. The only clear image of him at that time remains that taken on the plane, published by Rashford himself on social networks. As soon as he landed, everything was done to hide his presence. Instead of taking the usual terminal, the player was recovered from the other end of the airport, far from the media, and transported to a van whose very narrow exit prevented any clear shooting. Although some witnesses have briefly seen it on passport control, no exploitable image has been disseminated, neither by journalists nor by the club.
Monday morning, Rashford discreetly visited the Ciudad Deportiva, the FC Barcelona training center, to take the medical examinations prior to its signature. Again, visual communication has been rigorously controlled: only a photo of the car, tinted windows, crossing the grids of the center was captured. Neither at the entrance nor at the exit, the player was clearly seen. This desire to keep the invisible English continued the next day on Tuesday, when he participated in his first day of training. Arrived early in the morning, he again escaped the goals. The official images published by the club on this session show neither his face or his silhouette. However, he met his new teammates well, when the team returned to the field after a day of rest. Barcelona justifies this silence by administrative prudence: as long as the contract is not signed in the forms, no publication must formalize its presence.
In all likelihoods, Rashford would have finally signed his contract with Barcelona at the end of the afternoon on Tuesday. The Englishman joins the Blaugranas in the form of a loan, with a purchase option valued at around 30 million euros. Although everything now seems to be adjusted on the administrative plan, the club has still not published a cliché de Rashford with the Barça jersey, or officially communicated on its arrival. It is likely that the formalization and the traditional photo session with President Joan Laporta took place on Wednesday afternoon. For the time being, Rashford remains a stealthy silhouette in the corridors of the Ciudad Deportiva, a player whom everyone knows present, but that nobody really sees. An arrival under high discretion, which contrasts with the habits of the Catalan club, and which feeds a certain mystery around the third summer recruit of Barça.
