The 28-year-old is potentially days away from landing a La Liga title with the Catalan giants, but every mention of his transfer appears to have been politely rebuffed by the club.
Barça non-committal on Rashford's future
Though they're still in the box seat and can sign the winger for a reported £26 million, their attitude suggests they remain non-committal at this late stage.
When Michael Carrick was asked to comment on Rashford's situation recently, he too spoke in riddles.
“I just think there are decisions to be made in time on certain things and obviously Marcus is in that situation," he told reporters.
“At this point in time, nothing’s been decided, but it will be, because it has to be at a certain point. There’s nothing else to say.”
13 goals and 11 assists in 46 games
The England international has enjoyed a great debut campaign in Spain, scoring 13 goals and providing 11 assists in 46 games in all competitions.
His pace and physicality have also stood out, and that resurrection of form has surely seen to it that he'll take up a space on the plane for the Three Lions at the World Cup.
Barça's reticence could be down to the fact that, when fit, their go-to wingers are Raphinha and Lamine Yamal, and only in the case of injuries, as now, will Rashford get a reasonable enough run in the side.
For a player who earns a pretty penny in weekly salary, being sat on the bench most weeks doesn't make economic sense.
Alvarez and Bastoni the priority?
The club are still trying to get back on an even keel financially, so any way of saving the pennies needs to be pored over with a fine-tooth comb.
Moreover, it would seem fairly clear that the Catalan club's priorities are to try and land both Julian Alvarez from Atletico Madrid, and Alessandro Bastoni from Internazionale.
To that end, a loan arrangement for another season would clearly suit Barça better, though it's understood that the Red Devils aren't prepared to budge from their previously agreed terms.
Of course, the current situation has now been complicated further by the fact that United are, apparently, not interested in taking their player back.
United don't want Rashford back
Reports suggest that the club need to offload him this summer, as Champions League qualification for them means that Rashford's weekly wage will increase to a basic of £325,000.
Not to mention that they've been getting along just fine without him, and he, too, doesn't appear to be in any sort of rush to go back to the Theatre of Dreams.
It's worth pointing out that only Raphinha and Fermin Lopez have made more fast breaks than Rashford's 10 (both players have 11), whilst only Ferran Torres has hit the woodwork more times (six) than the England man's five.
No one has scored more than the winger's four goals from outside the box, and only Joao Cancelo (62.5%) and Torres again (62.16%) have a better shot accuracy than Rashford's 57.14%.
Great all-round numbers
His 112 total shots is bettered by Lamine Yamal's 168, but considering how much less time Rashford has been on the pitch (2,377 minutes compared to Lamine's 3,700), that's only to be expected.
That the latter has trumped all the other attackers in the squad in this metric is surely in his favour.
His assist output is also good. His 11 for the season are on par with 'creator supreme' Pedri and are surpassed only by the aforementioned Lamine and Fermin, with 17.
Raphinha has created just two more chances than Rashford's 63, with Pedri (75) and Lamine (118), the other players to have beaten the Englishman's total.
An 83.52% pass completion success isn't one of the best in the squad, but if one compares it to Lamine (81.1%) and Raphinha (80.68%), his output is more than acceptable.
Poor in one-on-one challenges
The one area where Rashford has fallen well short is with regard to his success in one-on-one duels.
It's clear that he doesn't relish those kinds of challenges, given that his 41.03% success rate in them is actually the worst in the squad.
Whilst it's accepted that finances will be at the forefront of any negotiations, the board will still have to take Hansi Flick's opinion into account.
The German coach seems to fancy Rashford, even if only as an impact player off the bench in the main.
Perhaps then, the most sensible solution for United is to accept another loan deal for 12 months, with an obligation for Barcelona to buy in a year's time.
