Wayne Rooney sees Marcus Rashford as ‘one of the brightest talents in European football’ and has no doubt the teenager will ‘get his chance’ both for Manchester United and the England senior team.
After Rashford made a remarkable breakthrough for club and country last season, this term has seen him left out of United’s starting line-up by new manager Jose Mourinho and fail to make Sam Allardyce’s first England squad, with the 18-year-old striker instead being included in the Under-21s.
On Saturday he came off the United bench at Hull and made a swift impact, marking his first Premier League appearance of 2016-17 by netting a late winner in his side’s 1-0 victory.
And Red Devils skipper Rooney, who teed up the goal for Rashford, was quoted by a number of national newspapers as saying: ‘Marcus is a fantastic player, one of the brightest talents in European football.
‘I’m sure his chance will come. He did brilliantly when he came on and got
his goal. He’s an important player for us.’
United’s next match, after the international break, is a derby clash with Manchester City – who Rashford scored one of his eight club goals last season against.
After the Hull contest, Mourinho was making no promises about whether the youngster might be handed a start in the City game, but he has said Rashford will play ‘a lot’ under him.
The Portuguese has also expressed his preference for Rashford to be with England’s Under-21s at the moment rather than potentially warming the bench for the seniors, as he did for much of Euro 2016.
And that has been echoed by Rooney, the man who has been in possession of the England captaincy.
‘It’s still important for his development to go and play with the Under-21s,’ Rooney said.
‘It’s important that he gets games because he hasn’t played that much.
‘I think it will be good for him. He knows that and he understands that and his time will come and he will get his chance for Manchester United and England.’
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