Despite Rashford still being wet behind the ears in senior football, it is widely accepted that he could emulate two of England’s most revered strikers and the impact they had in major worldwide tournaments: Michael Owen’s iconic goal against Argentina in 1998 and Rooney’s aforementioned impact at Euro 2004 have gone down in living memory. “If it’s two up front then it has to be him and Vardy”, said Heskey, adding that he can picture his own style complementing Vardy’s had the two played for England at the same time.
Advertisement
There appears to be no end to the Manchester United wonderkid’s story and next season at Old Trafford it is entirely possible that he won’t be alone, as others are in line to follow him from the academy to the first team. Asked if he knew his starting XI for that match, Hodgson replied: “I have been close for a long time, because these are players that I have worked with for a long period of time”. In the future you can work on more advice, more instructions. I strongly believe he deserves his place in the squad, ” Rooney said.
I think go and play, let him play.
In 2006 a broken metatarsal left him with a race to get fit for the World Cup, while he was similarly under-cooked four years later in South Africa thanks to an ankle injury.
Rashford’s inclusion meant Andros Townsend and Danny Drinkwater joined the injured Fabian Delph in missing the cut on Tuesday – a “very hard decision” for Hodgson as he plumped for an extra attacker.
“I am delighted that Marcus has signed a new contract, he is at the right club to continue his development”, he said of Rashford.
Rooney’s words were echoed by Hodgson, who jettisoned midfielder Danny Drinkwater and winger Andros Townsend from his provisional squad in order to make room for Rashford.
“It’s a young squad but it’s got a lot of quality”.
Marcus Rashford has been rewarded for his breakthrough season at Manchester United with a £20,000 (€26,000)-a-week contract.
The former Santos forward spoke about Rashford in a recent interview. “I’ve just started my badges and done my Level 2 and I’ll take it from there, see whether it’s for me or not”. It’s certainly as good as I’ve felt going into a tournament and that’s largely because I’m injury-free.
Advertisement
“I feel good. Physically I feel fine and mentally I’m in a good place”. I think this is the biggest test now, going into a tournament.
