UK (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Marcus Rashford is set to feature for Barcelona in their first La Liga match after the winter break, with another English player also likely to start.
Tyrhys Dolan was a member of Clitheroe, a non-league team, just five years ago.
He is now a crucial member of a Espanyol team that is fifth in the standings at the age of 23.
Like Rashford, he will witness the intensity of the Catalan derby for the first time on Saturday.
It’s just one more chapter in an incredible journey filled with numerous rejections, times without a club, and coping with his closest friend’s tragic suicide.
He considers those experiences here in Barcelona, the place he now resides in.
This change seems to be about more than just adjusting to a new league by the time Dolan places his coffee order in Spanish.
“I don’t want to come here and my only takeaway being an improvement in my ability on the pitch,”
he says.
“I want to show the supporters that I’m really interested in the culture and the language, and I actually want to connect with them, so they understand me not just as a player but also as a person.”
Dolan, a resident of Broadheath in Greater Manchester, declined a new contract at Blackburn and joined Espanyol in July. A five-year stint at Ewood Park came to an end after a difficult decision.
After Preston released Dolan, Blackburn took him in when he had no team, and the forward developed close relationships with teammates, employees, and supporters.
But Dolan understood that in order to advance, he would have to make compromises.
Few English players make the move to Spain, and joining Espanyol is even less often. Adrian Heath, a former midfielder for Everton, was the last British player to represent the team in 1988.
When asked why he decided to join Espanyol, Dolan says he admired the fervor of their supporters, which he saw in movies his father showed him, and he found the club’s history intriguing; it was one of the first football teams established in Spain in 1900.
Espanyol only managed to survive on the last day of the previous season after spending a large portion of it battling relegation, but this time is different.
Dolan has played in 16 of Espanyol’s 17 games, starting 13 of them as a winger. They are fifth, 13 points behind leaders Barcelona, with ten victories.
“It’s been so positive,”
he says.
“When the football’s going well, everything feels good. You meet people in the street and it’s all positivity. I’m just embracing all of it.”
Dolan has a strong sense of self-belief, but he also narrates his narrative with humility, which may have been influenced by a difficult career path.
After academy stints at Manchester City, Burnley, and Preston, where he accepted a scholarship but failed to gain a professional contract, Dolan was playing seven leagues below England’s top flight five years ago.
There were extended stretches of uncertainty, releases, and rejections.
“It’s been an unbelievable journey,”
he says.
“I’m proud of all the obstacles I’ve overcome.
I think it makes the outcome sweeter when you’ve had to go the harder route through non-league. You’d come in at half-time and players would be eating Haribos for energy… it’s completely different now.”
Dolan claims that leaving his family was one of the most difficult aspects of his decision to join Espanyol. This perseverance is rooted in a deep familial bond.
“I’m such a family person and I knew it was a big sacrifice that I had to make,“
he says.
“But I’m just happy that I’m making everyone proud and they’re buzzing to see the situation I’m in now.”
He continues to be shaped by the friendship that is part of that support.
Jeremy Wisten, a teammate and close friend from Dolan’s academy days, grew up with him.
Dolan and Wisten applied for scholarships at the same time, but Wisten was cut by Manchester City due to injuries.
“It was a crucial time and you needed to be consistently playing,”
says Dolan.
“Jeremy kind of knew himself at Manchester City that he wasn’t really going to get a scholarship but he just struggled after that.”
Less than two years after the club fired him, in 2020, Wisten, then eighteen, committed suicide at his family’s house.
“I think for him it was facing the world knowing that he didn’t have that logo of a footballer,”
says Dolan.
“When you’re younger, people don’t even say your name. They say ‘oh, there’s the footballer Tyrhys’ or ‘there’s the footballer Jeremy’. You’re not just a human, you’re a player.
And once you strip that back, you think ‘well if I’m not that, then who am I?’‘
“It must have been really tough for him because I know a lot of people around him were doing really well in terms of football, getting the scholarships, getting pro contracts, making debuts – me being one of them.
It’s difficult to see when someone’s hurting so much and you’re achieving the thing that they want. It was the most heartbreaking moment of my life.”
Dolan wears the number 24 at Espanyol in honor of Wisten. He thought it was more than coincidental since it was one of just two squad numbers available because it was the day his close friend passed away.
Dolan became an ambassador for the Go Again organization, which helps young football players cope with the psychological effects of being released from academies, as a result of Wisten’s passing.
He wants to provide perspective and confidence because he has experienced that.
Dolan can feel the excitement growing.
“They say you feel it even in the warm-up,”
he says.
“It’s going to be very special.”
At the RCDE Stadium, he won’t be by himself either. His father has been occupied with responding to demands for tickets from relatives and friends.
“At the minute, it’s looking like we’ve got about 25 people coming over,”
he says.
“I’m going to have to try and pull something out of the bag. Half the flight will be everyone from Broadheath – it’ll basically be a Mancunian flight!”
What is Barcelona coach Hansi Flick saying about English players selection?
Hansi Film has praised Marcus Rashford’s integration into Barcelona while stressing performance- grounded selection for all players, including English loanees, ahead of crucial matches.
Film emphasized platoon quality and fitness over nation in his January 2, 2026,pre-Espanyol presser, attesting Rashford’s readiness alongside fits like Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal but advising all must maintain” intensity and commitment.” He focuses on collaborative station, avoiding self-esteem, with Rashford earning thresholds through honesty despite earlier physical/ internal enhancement calls.
No other English players feature, but Film tails Rashford as a winger option, noting” we have the quality to win” derbies through merit, not origin situating him as the sole Englishman probably to play.