In recent days there has been repeated speculation in the media about a possible winter move for Marcus Rashford from Manchester United to Borussia Dortmund. Apparently BVB is even prepared to dig deep into their pockets even for a loan. However, a former Bundesliga striker does not believe that the Englishman could solve the black and yellow’s problems.
A 2:3 home defeat against Bayer Leverkusen, a 2:4 debacle at Holstein Kiel and most recently a deserved 0:2 defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt: the start of 2025 has mercilessly underlined that there is currently a lot going on at BVB in terms of sport . Marcus Rashford from Manchester United is said to be responsible for ending the downturn, but according to ex-Bundesliga striker Patrick Helmes, an imminent loan for the attacker is not the panacea he was hoping for.
Rashford is “of course an exciting player who has often shown what he can do in the English Premier League,” says Helmes in an exclusive interview with RTL/ntv and sport.de but restricts that the 27-year-old is currently no longer in the condition “he once was”.
Helmes, who was successful 45 times in 98 games in the Bundesliga for 1. FC Köln, Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg, fundamentally believes that Rashford is “certainly an interesting personality for BVB”, but that he represents a tightrope walk financially would.
Individual class is not BVB’s problem
“The only thing that comes into question would probably be a loan, because the purchase price is brutal for him,” speculates Helmes. The “Bild” had already estimated that the chances of the Englishman staying in the Ruhr area in the long term were “virtually zero” for economic reasons. Although the attacker is said to be willing to forego part of his salary if he goes on loan, the deal would cost Dortmund six to eight million euros, according to the newspaper.
A sum that Helmes would probably not invest. Unlike Jadon Sancho, whose loan from United back to BVB became a success story in the second half of last season, Rashford doesn’t know the club or the Bundesliga and “won’t work the way everyone hopes for six months.”
In any case, BVB’s problem is not its individual class, but its character. However, due to the language barrier and the move to a new country, Rashford cannot be expected to take the lead from the start. “He certainly won’t solve BVB’s problems,” summarizes Helmes.
However, BVB needs to get its problems under control quickly. Borussia will be visiting FC Bologna in the Champions League on Tuesday (9 p.m. in the sport.de live ticker), followed by the groundbreaking Bundesliga duel against Werder Bremen (Saturday, 3:30 p.m. in the sport.de live ticker) and the possibly decisive CL game against Shakhtar Donetsk (Wednesday, January 29th in the sport.de live ticker).
So if Rashford is actually the chosen one, there is hardly any time to turn things around.