Gareth Southgate has praised Marcus Rashford’s growing maturity and believes England are reaping the benefits from a clear career pathway, identified in conjunction with the coaching staff at Manchester United, aimed at tapping into the striker’s immense potential.
Rashford gained his 11th cap against Slovakia on Monday, making his third start for the senior side, and recovered from an early defensive error to score his first Wembley goal and move England to within two points of qualification for the World Cup. Those discussions with United began two seasons ago when Southgate was in charge of the under-21s. The England set-up spoke at length with the former Wales forward Ryan Giggs, then Louis van Gaal’s assistant at Old Trafford, over how best to maintain the teenager’s development.
“United prepare their players well, which is why they end up the way they do,” said Southgate. “To play in front of 70,000 people every week, they bring them up in a way that you know the kind of player they will be before they walk through the door. We have had Marcus, Jesse Lingard, Michael Keane … so there is a certain type they develop because they are given good values. Marcus has a great platform to build from, and he has a good influence at his clubs in terms of José Mourinho to keep him grounded. We will do the same here.
“What has been nice on his pathway is that it is all joined up. We used to speak to Ryan Giggs about which team to put him in because we didn’t want to put him in the under-21s too early. Up to this point he has been really well handled and we have to continue to do that. Ryan was assistant manager and Marcus had just broken into the team. We felt the under-21s would put too much spotlight on him and I think United were grateful for that. Albeit Roy Hodgson ended up picking him for the seniors two months later. No, in truth, you could see the impact he had straight away.”
Southgate, having taken up the reins of the senior side, opted to select Rashford for the World Cup qualifier against Scotland in Glasgow in June rather than releasing him to play for the under-21s at the European Championships in Poland. The forward had marked his only appearance for Aidy Boothroyd’s junior side with a hat-trick against Norway, but that decision to omit him from the summer tournament was made in an attempt to “protect” the player after a first full season in senior football in which he played 53 games for United and scored 11 goals, having been a part of Hodgson’s squad at Euro 2016.
“He has the mental strength and, like Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen, is mature in terms of his understanding of the game and the way he picks up concepts,” said Southgate. “When he first came he didn’t know the group, but he was happy to speak in meetings. He has a lot of humility. I’ve met his mum, his brothers, and they are a good influence. We must also play a part and make sure he is looked after and we have shown that with the decision we made over the summer with the under-21s. But after the way he started this season at United we wanted him to play a part against Slovakia.”
It had taken an injury crisis at United under Van Gaal to thrust Rashford into the first-team picture. “It does make you wonder, though, how many others are there?” added Southgate. “In fairness to United, he is a player they have always liked. When I have spoken to [the former United reserve team manager] Warren Joyce they recognised the talent and the mentality. But, really, he was behind James Wilson who was on loan, Ashley Fletcher who was on loan.
“How many other examples are there? I don’t know, but kids need opportunity. When the opportunity presents itself you have to take it – we talked about that as a team ahead of the Slovakia game, and he did that. He hasn’t looked back. Maybe, if you miss that moment, for some it is too late. Hopefully, with the summer we have had with our junior teams, clubs will have a bit more faith in young English players.”