Gareth Southgate has praised the way in which Marcus Rashford has taken advantage of his opportunities to land a spot in Roy Hodgson’s England squad.
The Manchester United striker was named in Hodgson’s 26-man long list for this summer’s Euro Finals in France after a whirlwind three months with his club.
And regardless of whether Rashford makes the final cut of 23 for the Finals or not, it’s been a remarkable rise for the 18-year-old, who had previously played for England at U16 and U18 level before two caps for the U20s in March.
Rashford has scored seven goals in 16 appearances for United since breaking into their first team
"What’s clear is that over the last three years we’ve seen how quickly players can progress, Dele [Alli] has had a similar rise," said Southgate, who was hoping to include Rashford in his squad for the Toulon Tournament this week, before United reached the Emirates FA Cup Final to rule him out.
"So there’s always that balance between wanting to see if the pattern keeps going, which with Marcus it has this season as he’s kept performing well in Premier League games.
"If the [injury] situation with Danny Welbeck hadn’t happened, then maybe it would look different but then maybe if James Wilson and Ashley Fletcher weren’t out on loan elsewhere from United, then maybe Marcus doesn’t get a game in their first team.
"So the way that opportunity comes can be really random and then it’s about players seizing that opportunity and you never want to hold players back."
Rashford’s actual age group is with the current U19s squad, who face two games with Mexico next month and then their own Euro Finals in Germany this July.
But with the likes of Adam Armstrong, Dom Solanke, Tammy Abraham and Izzy Brown having been the regular forwards for Aidy Boothroyd’s squad through the season, Rashford hadn’t even been selected for that age group prior to his emergence at Old Trafford just after the turn of the year.
That form earned him a call-up to the U20s squad for a double-header with Canada in March, but he’s now set for a return to St. George’s Park with the seniors and aiming to make an impression ahead of the Euro warm-ups with Turkey, Australia and Portugal.
Southgate was hoping to select Rashford for the Under-21s' trip to Toulon before United reached the Emirates FA Cup
"In March, we felt Marcus had a lot of games in a short space of time so we wanted to see how he developed," revealed Southgate, in relation to his U20s appearances in March.
"And we [U21s] couldn’t take him this time because of the Cup Final, so it’s a really good chance for Roy to take a look at him and see how he fits into everything and they’ll go from there.
"You can’t ignore a player who is scoring Premier League goals, so whilst you can sometimes predict a player’s pathway, the nature of it is very random sometimes."
