Barcelona ‘tried to sign Marcus Rashford in 2019 and met his brothers and agent THREE times’

Barcelona reportedly tried to sign Marcus Rashford in 2019 before the Manchester United striker decided to extend his contract at Old Trafford.

The 25-year-old has been in sensational form this season and is reinvigorated under Erik ten Hag after struggling for form and fitness in recent years.

Since the post-World Cup restart, the striker has scored 13 times in 15 games in all competitions and has helped take the Red Devils to new heights.

Those from Ten Hag have risen to third place in the Premier League, are in the final of the Carabao Cup, the fifth round of the FA Cup and face Barcelona in a decisive clash of the Europa League play-offs, with the first leg at the Camp Nou on Thursday.

AND, according to the Spanish media Mundo DeportivoRashford could have been playing for Xavi’s team this week had a move attempt gone through four years ago.

The Catalan giants reportedly made several efforts to sign him between late 2018 and early 2019.

Rashford was 21 at the time with 18 months to go until his United contract expired in the summer of 2020.

Barcelona were keen to bring in someone who could succeed the 32-year-old Luis Suárez, with the Uruguayan coming to the end of his time at the club.

The report states that they were looking for a versatile attacker who they would not expect to start every week and who they could mold into the ‘Barcelona way of playing’.

The club were also interested in targeting someone who had a limited amount of time left on his contract so he wouldn’t cost an excessive amount.

Harry Kane, Antoine Griezmann, Luke Jovic, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Rodrigo and Rashford were all options considered.

Barcelona’s General Manager at the time, Pep Segura, was reportedly told in 2018 that Rashford had doubts about whether to extend his stay at United.

Segura went on to ask about Rashford’s possible interest in a move and was enthusiastic about the response from the Englishman’s agents, who hinted that they were eager to hear Barcelona’s proposal.

The talks took place, having held as many as three meetings in early 2019 between the club and Rashford’s brothers and agent.

Segura and company wanted to get the potential interest in a move before putting the option on then-Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu.

Rashford was seen by Barcelona as an attractive option in sporting and financial terms and there was said to be genuine interest there.

However, after the striker’s agents signaled to Barcelona that they would be interested in the move, Rashford chickened out and began to question whether a transfer to Barcelona was the right decision.

He reportedly had doubts about whether, at the age of 21, moving to Camp Nou and adjusting to a different style of football and culture would be the best idea for his development.

There were also more questions about the language barrier he would face in Spain, along with the challenges of stepping into a locker room full of world stars like Suárez and Lionel Messi.

In the end, Rashford decided that it would be better to stay at Old Trafford and this was helped by then United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who enjoyed a positive relationship with the striker.

United also noticed the interest and offered him a four-year, £248,000-a-week contract with the option for a further year, which was activated last year.

Rashford finally accepted this contract offer in the summer of 2019 and will now head to the Camp Nou on Thursday with the aim of knocking down Barcelona’s Europa League hopes.

Such is his form at the moment that Xavi is ready to play Ronald Araujo, who usually appears in the center of defense, as a makeshift right-back to contain Rashford.

The Barcelona manager used the same tactical plan in the last few matches of El Clásico to effectively subdue Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr. and the tactical plan is testament to the form Rashford is in.