- Petit speaks about Rashford’s move to Barca
- Frenchman believes Man Utd fans are more affectionate
- Claims Englishman won’t get much time to convince
Premier League legend and former Barcelona midfielder Petit firmly believes that Rashford’s reputation won’t help him from being spared by the Barcelona faithful. The ex-France international went so far as to claim that, despite how things turned sour for Rashford towards the end, the affection he received from the Manchester United supporters will far surpass the love he could get from Barca fans.
Financial constraints put a spanner in the works for the defending La Liga champions, as they failed in their pursuits to land one of Nico Williams or Luis Diaz in the transfer window. However, their desire to reinforce the attack didn’t go in vain as they completed Rashford’s signing on loan from the Red Devils. There were fears initially that the Englishman would not be registered in time for the opening league game of the season, but the club managed to complete all the necessary steps before the matchday. Rashford was handed his competitive debut in Blaugrana colours last weekend against Mallorca, coming on in the 69th minute in place of Ferran Torres.
Speaking to RacingTipster Petit warned that Rashford will have to prove he deserves the love of the Catalan club’s faithful fans, saying: “This won’t be like the affection he received from Manchester United fans for years. If you put away the last two seasons at Manchester United, even when he first came to Aston Villa, he received huge support from the fans. But in Spain, it’s completely different.
”They don’t care who you are. They don’t care if you are a Ballon d’Or winner. They don’t care if you’ve won the Premier League five times. They don’t care about that.
”They want you to score goals and to make your team win big trophies. They will be happy if you win La Liga, but that won’t be enough.
”They want you to win the Champions League, to win every single trophy, to perform well on the pitch. If you miss one game, if you play badly one game, you’ll be booed by your own fans. You’ll be murdered in the press. He has to understand that.
”As I said before, he didn’t give himself the best service. It’s very tempting to join Barcelona for everything that represents that club, especially with the great players on the pitch. But we’ve been asking questions about his form, his level, for the last two or three seasons. So, to get back at a real level, I think he needs to play regularly.
“He needs to play a lot of games during the season. I’m not sure he will get that at Barcelona because until Raphinha scores goals, the relationship between Raphinha and his team-mates in midfield and up front as well, he had such an amazing season last season. But he has started very well this season so far. So I wish him good luck.”
The 27-year-old will next be seen in action on Saturday, when Barcelona visit Levante for the second league game of the season. Per reports, Rashford could be an option for the Catalans as a No.9, should Robert Lewandowski not be fit enough to start the game.
