Why Marcus Rashford decided to make the big call to snub a move to Barcelona from Manchester United has reportedly been revealed.
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This season, the England international is arguably enjoying the best form of his career playing for the 20-time English champions, having scored 21 goals in all competitions, but it could all have been so different had he moved to the home of the Catalan giants a few years back.
At the beginning of 2019, the Blaugrana were heavily interested in signing the then-21-year-old as they looked to replace club legend Luis Suarez. The Barca hierarchy were looking at players who were young and nearing the end of their deals at the time, and the Englishman was a prime candidate with his then-contract running until 2020.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the five-time European champions, under the leadership of sporting director Pep Segura, initiated talks with Rashford and his representatives to see if a move was possible and were greeted with a positive response as Rashford seemed eager for a move to the Camp Nou.
Three more meetings were arranged to finalise the potential deal, but the Three Lions star ultimately got cold feet and decided against making the move to the Iberian Peninsula.
The report suggests that Rashford doubted that making the switch to Barca so early in his career would be a good move, and was also wary that he might not be able to adapt to a different way of playing, a star-studded dressing room and the overall way of living in Spain.
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Instead, the Manchester native decided to extend with United for another four years and continue to play under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Now, four years later, Rashford is preparing to take on the LaLiga table-toppers in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League Knockout Round Play-off match on Thursday night.
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