Only one Englishman has played competitive football for Barcelona for the past 100 years.
When Gary Lineker arrived in the Nou-Camp in 1986, he had just won the World Cup Golden Boot and was about to finish second in the Ballon d'Or.
He would score a hat trick in El Clasico, lift a European trophy and win the Copa del Rey.
Barcelona do not sign the tendency to sign English players. And they don't tend to sign chumps.
So the fact that Marcus Rashford is about to become only the second Englishman in the modern times that plays in the spiritual house of the beautiful game is perhaps the most intriguing move of the summer.
Rashford, the member of the unwanted 'bump team' of Manchester United.
Rashford, whose form of a cliff has fallen.
Rashford, whose once Saintly Reputation fell out of the clouds.
During the Pandemie, Rashford earned a MBE for his campaign work against child poverty and hunger. At the time, he was praised as the unofficial leader of the opposition.
Nevertheless, Ruben Amorim claimed in January that Rashford's attitude was so bad that he would rather select his 63-year-old goalkeeper coach Jorge Vital as United Sub.
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And now Rashford is here at the Champions of Spain, signed for the club where Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola football elevated to an art form.
Earlier in the summer, Rashford had openly advertised for a move to Barca.
He spoke to the prospect of playing next to Lamine Yamal, the most exciting teenage footballer in the world.
And it all sounded like Wishful Thinking, such as a weird Shisha-Pipe dream.
So the news that Barca had concluded a seasonal loan agreement with United was an extraordinary memory that there used to be a very decent player in Rashford.
After the damn public comments of Amorim, Rashford sealed a loan movement to Aston Villa, where he performed reasonably well and played in a quarterfinals of the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain-the goal that Villa won the second stage but still left a goal to win the draw.
There was plenty in that villa -loan spell to ask Thomas Tuchel to select Rashford in his first England team in March and to convince Barca that Rashford is worth a point, on loan with an option to buy next summer.
There is a feeling that Rashford could benefit from being Goldfish Bowl from the Manchester, but playing for Barca makes extreme requirements.
Before Jude Bellingham's first Clasico performance for Real Madrid in 2023, Lineker told me: “We think that Premier League footballers operate under a lot of pressure, and they do that, but it is nothing compared to games for Barcelona and Real Madrid.
“When I was in Barcelona, it was a middle class-MEAT-THE Most people from the working class could not afford to go.
“The Socios, who owned shares in the club, formed a lot of the crowd and for them it was like going to the opera or ballet – they leaned back and expected to be entertained.
“In a swamp standard Spanish league match it can be very quiet and if you started badly, they could come on your back after 15 minutes and whistle. Although things have changed a bit, it is still largely true.”
So Rashford has not taken an easy option here. He has also taken a reduction of 15 percent on his £ 320,000 weekly United wage. This is a man who is still determined to prove himself at the very top.
Participation in Barcelona, even on loan, is an important step further than United – which will not play European football this coming season.
A link with Yamal will be interesting, both outside the field and on it – especially in view of the fact that the Boywonder has just turned 18, but has already developed a preference for parties with only fans models and dwarfs.
Rashford's notorious sick sick person after a drink bug in Belfast – who seriously dented his relationship with Amorim's predecessor Erik ten Hag – took place 18 months ago.
And it is generally said that he was nodded in Villa.
But will Rashford regularly start for Barca, with Yamal, Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Ferran Torres who are already fighting for places in the front three of Hansi Flick?
Rashford is the most effective to cut in from the left flank, where former Leeds -man Raphinha was operated on with great success.
Yet this is a remarkable opportunity for Rashford to breathe new life into his career at Laliga's champions – and he can even get the renewed well -camp, should it actually be opened again this season.
And on 26 October he has the chance to play in the largest club matches on earth, against Real in the Bernabeu in the first Clasico of the season-a match that can also contain his English teammates Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Only two years ago, Rashford was one of the few reliable players of United and a regular starter in England. At the age of 27, its peak can still come.
There would be no bigger place to realize his full potential than in Barcelona.
But because the only Englishman who played for Barca in the last century has warned, there are few more difficult places to win your audience.
Wales fails
There were no Welshmen in the competition day team of the British and Irish Lions for Saturday's victory over Australia in Brisbane.
There were no Welshmen coordinated between a 156-member field on the Open Championship in Portush.
No Welshmen regularly played for the top six clubs in the Premier League table last season.
And as far as the Welsh women are concerned, they were sent home with zero points with zero points, after they had sent 13 goals in three games.
What happened to a once-large sports country?
Brit of a Downer
From a British perspective, it would have been wonderful to see Rory McIlroy claiming in his native country in the weekend in his native country in his native Noord -Ireland.
And for Daniel Dubois to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
But sometimes you just have to wonder about those athletes who come remarkably close to achieving perfection in their field.
Scottie Scheffler and Oleksandr Usyk are two of those rare animals.
And given the fact that the Beer-like Scheffler weighs just above the 14th 4LB Cruiserweight limit, is he perhaps the man to give Usyk a decent fight?
Big Sam's Big Mural
A ten meter high mural by Sam Allardyce has appeared on a wall in the birth city of the great man Dudley.
Allardyce is depicted as the food of orange chips – a spicy, battered black rural delicacy.
But given the claim of Big Sam on familiarity as the short -lasting manager of England, should he not be immersed in paint while drinking a pint of wine instead?
What a Maverick
During the Open Week I often enjoy myself by finding the weirdest American names in the field.
Under the previous winners of my imaginary comic name Claret Jug are Fred Funk, Fuzzy Zoeller, Curtis Strange, Duffy Waldorf and Bo van Pelt.
This year it wasn't even close, thanks to Maverick McNealy.
Discover your own American golfer name by simply adding your favorite top gun -character to the name of a salad or a genre of popular music.