Marcus Rashford will be given his chance to prove his worth to Roy Hodgson when he starts in England’s friendly against Australia on Friday.
The 18-year-old was the surprise inclusion in Hodgson’s 26-man provisional squad for Euro 2016, with the England manager adamant that Rashford, who has played just 18 senior matches for Manchester United, would have to shine in order to steal a place from more established members of the national setup.
Rashford and the remainder of the Manchester United squad joined up with England on Monday after their FA Cup final success and Hodgson expects the youngster to shake off the injury he suffered in the victory over Crystal Palace.
However Hodgson warned Rashford that he would have limited time to convince him he could be worth a place in the final squad of 23.
“I don’t really know what to expect from him,” Hodgson said. “Don’t forget Rashford was a bit unlucky because the amount of time we are going to have with him is very short. It will be Wednesday and Thursday [training], Friday’s match and then we have to make a decision on the 23 players.
“There is no doubt I made the right decision putting him in this large group because the lad has enormous talent. You will know from my past record that I’m not afraid to give young players a chance and I don’t dismiss them on the basis of their age, but you will also know that in the position he plays we have a lot of competition for places.
“There isn’t an awful lot of chance for him to stamp his authority on myself and the coaching staff when there is such a short period of time. But I am ruling nothing out.”
Along with the Manchester United contingent the majority of Liverpool players did not feature in Sunday’s 2-1 victory over Turkey, Jordan Henderson the only one of Jurgen Klopp’s charges to feature after playing no part in the Europa League final.
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Players from both those sides will feature at the Stadium of Light as Hodgson casts his eye over the squad in the final friendly before England must name their Euro 2016 squad, the deadline for which is May 31.
“I’m not planning an experimental team but we have only three preparation games and already quite a lot of people – seven players – have missed the first one,” Hodgson added.
“I have to take those things into consideration and also the juxtaposition of players who need games and others who don’t because they have had so many games during the season. I will take all those things into account because by the time we come to the Portugal match [on June 2] I want a pretty good idea of the team I’m thinking about for the start of the tournament.”
