Lakshay Khurana
Manchester United’s eighteen-year-old striker Marcus Rashford scored eight goals for United last season having only made his first-team debut in February and was pleased with a surprise spot in Roy Hodgson’s England squad.
After netting on his international debut in a friendly game against Australia, he was then limited to two late substitute appearances at the Euro 2016, where England crashed out to Iceland in the round-of-16 stage.
Roy Hodgson has now been replaced by the former West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce and Marcus Rashford doesn’t seem to be the Big Sam’s choice as he has been dropped from the England Senior Team and got named in Gareth Southgate’s England Under-21 squad this week.
Rashford had impressed fans in his two substitute appearances at Euro 2016, with many supporters berating Roy Hodgson for not bringing him on earlier in England’s embarrassing Round-of-16 defeat to Iceland.
It’s hardly a surprise, given the youngster has been unsuccessful to feature in the starting XI under Jose Mourinho. He was an unused substitute for the first two United’s Premier League games but answered his critics in style with a later winner last weekend. But that’s not enough for Allardyce as the new England manager wants players who are regular in their club’s fixtures.
Mourinho prefers to see the young striker of his new club getting minutes under his belt with England’s Under-21 side, rather than sitting on the bench for the seniors. He believes that getting more game time makes sense for Rashford at this stage of his development.
“I prefer it this way, because to be selected and be on the bench behind Kane and Vardy and all the experienced players, than play one minute or not play. I would prefer him to go to the Under 21s and play what Southgate decides, but I believe 90 or 80 minutes, a big part of matches, and contribute to his development”, Mourinho said in an interview.
The Manchester-born striker still needs to further develop his game and gain more exposure in order to cement his position at United in future. No matter how good he is on the pitch, the 18-year-old is still lacking regular game time, having made his debut just 6 months ago. It is surely a blessing in disguise for him to be dropped from the England senior team. Just like any other young player, it will be beneficial for him to have some caps in U-21 and then proceed to the main stage.
