By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
England manager Roy Hodgson has less than a month now before he
announces the 23-man squad he will be taking to the European Championships this
summer in France.
Competition for places is expected to be fierce, and some big
players are in real danger of missing out. Injury looks set to keep Jordan
Henderson and Jack Wilshere at home this summer, whilst the likes of Alex
Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott and Leighton Baines are far from guaranteed of
boarding the plane at the end of the season.
One youngster who has grabbed his opportunity in recent months is
Manchester United’s new upcoming talent Marcus Rashford. He continues to
impress with a knack of scoring vital goals – the latest helping the Red Devils
to Wembley and the FA Cup semi-finals.
This poses another question for Hodgson. Should he gamble on
Rashford this summer, or is this international tournament a bit too soon for
the 18-year-old?
Giving youth a chance
Manchester United have not had a vintage season under Louis van Gaal.
Eliminated in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League before Christmas,
they were also booted out of Europe altogether by bitter rivals Liverpool FC
and have failed to sustain a serious title challenge in the Premier League. In
fact, they are in severe danger of not qualifying for the Champions League for the
second time in three seasons.
Van Gaal’s position as United manager has come under great scrutiny
ever since the festive period, with the rumours linking the ex-Chelsea boss
Jose Mourinho not seen to be going away anytime soon. However, Van Gaal must be
praised for giving youth a chance at Old Trafford.
Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Timothy Fonsu-Mensah and Andreas Pereira
have all made their mark on the club this season, but none more so than Marcus
Rashford.
Injuries to club captain Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial have
forced Van Gaal’s hand, but he had kept total faith in Rashford ever since his
glowing debut, which is one of many early career highlights.
Early highlights
Rashford was named on the bench for the round-of-32 UEFA Europa
League tie at home to FC Midtjylland of Denmark. A late injury to Martial in
the warm-up threw Rashford in at the deep end. It was a debut to remember. He
scored twice in the second half to help the Red Devils progress into the next
round and in the process, become the club’s youngest ever scorer in European
competition.
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| Rashford made a dream Premier League debut vs. Arsenal in February |
Three days later, title contenders Arsenal rolled into Old Trafford
expected to brush their hosts aside. They misguided the impact Rashford would have.
Full of confidence, he scored twice on his Premier League debut (pictured) in the space of
three first half minutes. He then set-up Ander Herrera for the decisive goal in
the 3-2 win; a result that ultimately was the start of the end for Arsenal’s
title hopes this season.
Three weeks later, Rashford’s rise to prominence continued. His
goal beat Manchester City in the Manchester derby at the Etihad, earning United
their first win at City since December 2012. At 18 years and 141 days, Rashford
became the youngest ever scorer in a Manchester derby in Premier League
history.
After being subbed at half-time of the weekend’s 3-0 drubbing by
Tottenham, Rashford bounced back in spectacular style on Wednesday night. He
scored a stunning opening goal to spoil West Ham United’s final FA Cup night at
Upton Park. The 2-1 win in the sixth round replay takes the club to Wembley for
a semi-final showdown with Everton and keeps the potential of silverware alive.
A lot of United’s highlights this season have been down to the
incredible talent that is Marcus Rashford.
Adhering caution
As soon as he burst onto the first-team picture at the Theatre of
Dreams, Rashford’s name was immediately connected with England. Hodgson did
little to dispel this when asked about his early spurt of goals in March. He
said: “I would neither rule him in nor rule him out. I just hope he can do
well. I have been watching Rashford for two years, so I have known about him
for a long time. He is in our system.”
It is worth adhering caution to his talents though. One person who
knows this is Nicky Butt. Butt was part of the famous ‘Class of 92’ and is an
academy coach at Manchester United. Speaking at an event in the Middle East, he
accepted that Rashford is a phenomenal talent but any talk of a Euro 2016
call-up should be put to one side.
He said: “I think talk of England is well too soon
for Marcus. He has phenomenal potential but an international call-up now could
do more damage than good.”
It is worth remembering that the last youngster gamble backfired on
the England squad. In 2006, Sven-Goran Eriksson made the bizarre decision to
select Walcott for his World Cup squad. That was despite him not having made
his debut for Arsenal’s first-team. The Swede overlooked the goalscoring
talents of Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe at the time for a risk that was not
needed.
Walcott travelled to Germany, but never played a single minute of
action in the Three Lions’ fairly unconvincing run to the quarter-finals where
the inevitable penalty shootout exit occurred in Gelsenkirchen against
Portugal. It was a pointless selection and apart from a memorable hat-trick in
a World Cup qualifier in Zagreb, it is fair to say that Walcott has not lived
up to his billing on the international stage.
Pros and Cons
With Rooney returning for the last four minutes of the FA Cup tie
on Wednesday night from a two-month injury lay-off, it will be interesting to
see where Rashford fits into Van Gaal’s plans for the remainder of the season.
Surely he won’t be dropped but a positional change might have to
occur and that won’t bother him. He has already shown willingness to play out
wide and work hard for the manager. It could spell bad news for Juan Mata, who
was excluded from the squad in midweek and might struggle to win his place back
with Rooney’s return and Martial’s goalscoring threat.
Rashford doesn’t seem afraid of anything at the moment and the way
he responds to pressure is impressive too. Bouncing back from being withdrawn
at half-time at White Hart Lane last week, Rashford showed a lot of character
and spirit in his game with that spectacular goal against West Ham.
So, should he go to Euro 2016?
In all honesty, Roy Hodgson has plenty of options in the striking
department. Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy will definitely go, whilst as long as he
proves his fitness, Rooney’s selection is a no-brainer. This leaves one spot
and both Daniel Sturridge of Liverpool FC and Arsenal’s Danny Welbeck have to
be considered ahead of Rashford in the pecking order. Their risky injury record
is the blemish that might give Hodgson food for thought.
Other options could involve taking Charlie Austin but he can’t get
into the Southampton side, whilst a hat-trick last weekend against Arsenal
reminded everyone of Andy Carroll’s availability. However, I think Rashford has
moved above them in the alternatives category.
Marcus Rashford is young, fresh, hungry and gifted but Hodgson has
to think long and hard about this dilemma. He should be considered for Euro
2016, but making a senior debut bow in the autumn World Cup qualifiers for
Russia 2018 would seem to be a more common sense option.
The good thing for Roy Hodgson is he has options at his disposal
and that is no bad thing in the build-up to a major international competition.
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