Marcus Rashford says he’s always had faith in England’s young players, as the Three Lions prepare to host Brazil in their final game of 2017.
The Manchester United striker first broke into the senior set up last year and has been a firm fixture ever since.
And after being joined in Gareth Southgate’s group by fellow young guns such as Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Joe Gomez, Tammy Abraham, Lewis Cook and Dom Solanke, the 20-year-old believes it’s time to let young English talent thrive.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had a problem with developing players, they’ve always been there and I’ve seen them myself,” he told the official match programme for Tuesday’s match.
“But it’s how we nourish them and give them a way of showing what they can do at senior level.
“If you look at our young players, the ones who have yet to play and the ones who are coming through, we have a lot of talent and it’s about nourishing them in the right way to make them into top professionals.
“On the pitch, we can see the exceptional qualities players have, but how we get the best out of each other is the important thing.”
Rashford will now be hoping he gets the chance to line-up against the South Americans, after a second-half substitute appearance in the draw with Germany on Friday.
And it’s an occasion he’s looking forward to, after revealing he grew up idolising the likes of Ronaldo and Rivaldo after being shown endless videos by his older brothers.
“I’m a fan of football so when I see good football, it attracts me and I like to watch it,” he explained.
“So watching clips of Brazil’s teams playing, with the likes of Ronaldo and Rivaldo, they were massive moments for people my age growing up and they were the ones that we wanted to be like and who we tried to emulate on the playground.
“When I was about seven or eight, that’s when I really started watching clips of individuals and my brothers always spoke to me because they were alive and watching in that era when they were the team to see, so they told me about it.
“Ronaldinho and Ronaldo were my favourites. Ronaldinho used to drop short a lot and get the ball and Ronaldo would do the same stuff but higher up the pitch so I’ve always been a big fan of Ronaldo.”
You can read the full interview with Marcus in the official programme for Tuesday’s game, which also includes features with Gareth Southgate, Harry Maguire, Tite, Philippe Coutinho, Paulinho and much more.
