England manager contradicts with Jose Mourinho’s claim on Marcus Rashford
Oct 26, 2016 at 2:12 PM
Just a week after Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho said that calling Marcus Rashford for England U-21 makes no sense after being named in the senior team, England interim coach Gareth Southgate has insisted that the United youngster can still be called for the European Under-21 Championship next summer.
“If he becomes a regular in the national team and established, then to say it is important for his development with the Under 21s, makes no sense,’ Mourinho said a week ago.
“It’s the same that he’s a regular here with us. Are we going to play him in the Under 23 Championship because we want to beat somebody and he can give us a help in that?
“If he’s an Under 21 player in the national team, then he is an Under 21 player and there is no discussion.
The youngster was given a surprise call from Southgate for the U-21 team in September when he scored a hat-trick in a 6-1 win over Norway despite being in the first team squad for Euro 2016.
However, Southgate refused to rule out a possible U-21 call for the United striker in the future.
“It’s always a case of what’s right for the individual player,” Southgate said.
“That’s why you can’t make decisions on players at this stage of the season. You have an idea what you think is the ideal pathway for an international young player but you have to bear in mind the season they have and where they are in terms of being involved in the senior team.”
“It’s a scenario we went through two years ago but there is a point where young players are still viewed as being part of the development teams. There’s also a point where we have to decide if they are still in development teams and is that going to benefit them or have they moved through it?”