On Monday it was announced that his form with Manchester United had earned him a new four-year contract, and 24 hours later he was confirmed as one of Roy Hodgson’s 23-man squad to head to the Euro 2016 finals.
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Drinkwater getting left off was no doubt the top story of the day, but let’s not overlook another England National Team storyline pertaining to the roster- Hodgson’s decision to bring five strikers to France.
England striker Wayne Rooney has been impressed with the attitude shown by Manchester United team-mate Marcus Rashford both at club and worldwide level. I strongly believe he deserves his place in the squad, ” Rooney said.
“For a long period of time, if anything, we haven’t had an enormous amount of choice and sometimes there have been comments that we don’t have enough players to pick from”.
The 18-year-old became the Three Lions’ youngest player to score on debut when he netted the opener in a 2-1 victory against Australia on Friday. “I wish him the same luck that I had”.
“If he keeps going the way he is, he’ll be a massive talent for England and Manchester United for a good few years”.
It was a “needs must” situation and, while United will say he would have eventually worked his way through to the first team, I very much doubt it.
“[Hodgson] could go with a diamond and play with three midfield players and (Wayne) Rooney in behind (Jamie) Vardy and (Harry) Kane which is quite exciting”, the ex-Spurs boss suggested. In the future you can work on more advice, more instructions.
‘I don’t think I have to look after them, but if I can set the right example around the hotel or on the training pitch, then they will see that, ‘ he added.
It all depends on Roy telling those players to go out express themselves, give them belief and tell them to win the game against Russian Federation, not go out with the mindset of avoiding defeat.
“It’s certainly as good as I’ve felt going into a tournament, and that’s largely because I’m injury-free, ” the 30-year-old said.
On his decision to leave Leicester’s Danny Drinkwater and Newcastle’s Andros Townsend out of his squad, Hodgson added: “It was a very hard decision (to trim the squad to 23)”.
“He has special qualities”. “But I don’t think he’ll care about that to be honest, he’ll just go out there and perform the way that he can”.
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“In previous tournaments I’ve gone in and I’ve had little concerns, which sometimes does play on your mind, but I have no concerns about that. I haven’t felt it at all since coming back, so physically I feel fine [and] mentally I’m in a good place”.
