“Struggles a lot”: National media aim latest shot at United loanee

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Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford has had an eventful time at FC Barcelona so far this season.

First half of his loan

Rashford has provided 11 assists and scored seven goals during his time in Catalonia.

FC Barcelona appear quite keen on securing a permanent deal for the forward, as sporting director Deco recently met with Rashford’s representatives in Saudi Arabia.

Nonetheless, the loanee has struggled recently, scoring just one goal since early November.

This has led to the Spanish media getting on his back and asserting the team is much better when Raphinha is playing, not the United academy graduate.

Further criticism

Rashford once again struggled to make much impact in Barcelona’s nervy 2-0 win over Racing Club in the Copa del Rey on Thursday night.

Spanish website Defensa Central carries comments from the football talk show El Chiringuito, and the pundits were less than impressed by Rashford’s efforts.

Pundit Jota Jordi claimed Rashford, “struggles a lot in static situations. Lamine gave him four passes, and two of them should have been goals, man.”

Rashford has also received criticism for his lack of defensive nuance and work rate off the ball during his time in Spain.

The pundit also claimed that while things are currently “going wonderfully” for Barcelona, they still regularly present weakness in defence.

He claimed, “despite managing to win their matches, FC Barcelona demonstrates every week that they have many defensive weaknesses.”

Rashford will hope to return to goalscoring ways when his side face Real Sociedad in the league on Sunday night.

Barcelona will also be in Champions League action next week when they face Slavia Praha on Wednesday night, a competition in which the English attacker has scored four times this season.