Jamie Vardy and Danny Drinkwater, two key parts of Leicester City’s surprise title triumph this season, have also been called up by Hodgson. But Hodgson insists Rooney is not guaranteed a place in his starting XI at Euro 2016.
Advertisement
“Rooney is the captain and he’s done fantastically for England”.
Rashford, who is just 18 years old, has had a stunning impact at Old Trafford since making his debut in February.
He is up there with Harry Kane and Dele Alli as England’s future and this summers European Championships has been labelled as a building block to the next World Cup.
“I’ve never retired and I’ll never turn my back on England because I still believe I can score goals at that level”, he said.
And he grasped his opportunity by claiming the man-of-the-match award on his debut in the 2-1 defeat against the Dutch at Wembley.
“No one expected Leicester to win the league so who knows what can happen, but you have to have that hope and belief”.
“There are three games to play [Turkey, Australia and Portugal] and everyone needs to stay fit and I need to keep my fitness, and hopefully I’ll be there at the end”.
Rashford faces stiff competition from Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy, Tottenham Hotspur’s golden boot victor Harry Kane and Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge for making the cut for the final 23-man squad, which will be announced by May 31.
The England manager has shown loyalty to Tom Heaton by selecting him as the team’s third choice ‘keeper ahead of Ben Foster.
Rashford, 18, has not previously received a call-up from Hodgson, but could now make his first senior worldwide appearance in the friendly against Turkey at the Etihad Stadium on Monday, May 23.
“We have had good feedback from Manchester United on the player”, he said.
Hodgson added: “We thought that it would be better to add one or two players to the squad, we’ve got these games coming up, and for this first game in particular we will be without a few players”.
Advertisement
If Hodgson is in charge for the next major tournament or not, he is definitely building the foundations of a great team with all England’s fantastic young talent.
