Michael Carrick shares honest thoughts on Marcus Rashford leaving Man Utd for Barcelona

Manchester United coach Michael Carrick has broken his silence on Marcus Rashford’s departure to Barcelona, describing the forward’s exit as one of football’s inevitable twists after the pair shared more than a decade at Old Trafford as team-mates and, later, as coach and player.

Rashford, 28, left United last summer after slipping down the pecking order under Ruben Amorim during the 2024-25 campaign and spending the second half of that season on loan at Aston Villa. Villa declined to trigger a permanent deal, allowing Barcelona to offer the academy graduate a new start at the Camp Nou, where he has since registered 10 goals and 13 assists in 34 appearances under Hansi Flick.

Speaking ahead of United’s weekend fixture, Carrick—now back on the club’s coaching staff—was asked whether he regretted seeing the England international move on.

“It’s difficult to say, you know, because circumstances at certain times, that I haven’t been involved in,” Carrick told reporters, as carried by the club’s official website. “It’s difficult for me to comment, really. I think the fact he’s come through the academy and had such a big impact here is a positive and as a club, he’s had some really big moments, and good moments, and I’ve shared some with him in the past, you know?”

Carrick, 44, played alongside Rashford during the final seasons of his own playing career and later worked with him in coaching roles under both Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Rashford featured in every match of Carrick’s three-game caretaker reign in late 2021, but the two have not been reunited since the former midfielder returned to the club in an interim capacity this season.

The coach pointed to Rashford’s journey as evidence of football’s unpredictability.

“So, football throws up certain things and obviously certain players, you can’t stay here forever and things happen.”

Rashford’s resurgence in Catalonia has provided a bright spot for the forward after a turbulent final year in Manchester, while Carrick and United continue to assess the long-term shape of a squad undergoing transition.