Gareth Southgate: 'England Under-21s call-up good for Marcus Rashford'

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 25 August 2016

England Under-21s manager Gareth Southgate believes that Marcus Rashford will benefit from playing for the team, despite losing his place in the senior squad.

England Under-21s manager Gareth Southgate has said that he believes Marcus Rashford will benefit from stepping down from the senior squad.

The 18-year-old Manchester United striker was included in the Under-21s for the first time by Southgate earlier today despite having featured for the first team at Euro 2016 this summer.

However, Rashford has seen his playing time at club level reduced by the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Southgate is keen for the frontman to continue his development in England's youth teams.

"Last season, his pathway was remarkable and we're very conscious of plotting how we develop our young players. We spoke a lot with Manchester United last season when we put him in the U20s in March, which both they and ourselves felt was the right thing at the time. He then continued his progress, which was great, and of course he played a part in Roy's squad at the Euros," told the FA's official website.

"But if he's less likely to start with the seniors at this moment in time, and Sam [Allardyce] is quite keen that people are playing regularly, we think that it's now a good opportunity in his international development for him to be with the U21s. Marcus is a young player and still developing so this is a big part of his international education really.

"We've got a good week's work ahead with a very strong squad and we're playing Norway, who are doing similar with their players as they've just named Martin Odegaard in their squad. We've had it in the past with the likes of Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane, John Stones and Calum Chambers joining us after being with the seniors, so it's something we're familiar with. Marcus has a good mentality, so I know he'll respond in the right way and we're looking forward to working with him."

Rashford has scored one goal in three appearances for England's senior side.