Barcelona have made Rashford more like Haaland - Solskjaer

Martin Macdonald

• 13 Nov 2025 05:45 CST
• 4 min read

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Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can't quite put his finger on why things went sour for Marcus Rashford at Old Trafford but believes the England forward is rediscovering his best form on loan at Barcelona.

Rashford has been at Man Utd since he was a child and broke through into the United first-team under Louis van Gaal.

He has displayed moments of true brilliant as when he is in the mood, he can use his pace, running power and finishing to be near-unstoppable.

However, his form over the last few seasons went off a cliff and he eventually fell out of favour with head coach Ruben Amorim, who left him out the squad for a Manchester derby which the Red Devils went on to win.

Rashford secured a dream loan move to Barcelona and it seems a weight has been lifted from his shoulders as he looks like the Rashford of old, chipping in 17 goal contributions in 16 matches so far.

Solskjaer, who managed United between 2018 and 2021, believes the player is now showing the same type of energy on the field that Man City superstar Erling Haaland displays.

"I've not spoken to Marcus since I've left, I text him a little bit but circumstances," he said while appearing on Stick to Football.

"I don't know what's happened in his life but you can see he's certainly enjoying it now in Barcelona.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🚀 Marcus Rashford's Man of the Match performance vs Newcastle. 😮‍💨⚡️ pic.twitter.com/Y3YnvKzC8N

— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) September 24, 2025

"It looked like he didn't enjoy himself here. I don't think that's just Man United [not enjoying it], it's everywhere.

"All the pressures, every single one is different, we don't know what's happened to the players when they walk in in the morning grumpy, that's the manager's job: 'What's up? I can see something's wrong'.

"We don't know what's happened, we just want him to do well. He's an incredible player when he's in in form and happy, he's got that energy.

"I go back to Erling Haaland, just the energy that he shows all the time, when he's on the pitch, he shows that enthusiasm and energy, that's the least.

"But what is it? Life? Too many games? We don't know but he's found the right balance."

Solskjaer can't believe 'local lad' McTominay was sold

The Norwegian also weighed in on the debate as to whether Man Utd should have sold Scott McTominay or not.

The former United midfielder has lit up Serie A since his switch to Napoli, even earning a nomination for the Ballon d'Or.

“I was almost shocked because you need or want a core of the local lads, ones who get the club. Scott did,” Solskjaer explained.

“For me, I think he’s shown in Italy how good of a player he is. His character, personality around the place, he sets the standards and he’d survive when we played 100 per cent.

“He was voted Serie A Player of the Year last year and won the league with Napoli so he’s one of them that you only know when you’ve got him, how good he is and how important he can be.

“In my squad, Scotty probably wasn’t allowed to play in his best position enough, yeah [because of] Bruno [Fernandes] and maybe the lack of physicality that we had.

"You saw a couple of games against Leeds, we said: ‘Scott, this is a man-to-man game, we want you running through as a third man,’ and he scored, two or three, I can’t remember how many goals he scored against Leeds. That’s probably a reason because we think of him as… he’s one of the eights. Great physicality."

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