Is Marcus Rashford England's Brightest Young Prospect Since Wayne Rooney?
Some players have that special something. It’s intangible, unquantifiable and difficult to completely grasp, but there is something that sets them apart from the rest. It’s what makes Marcus Rashford such an exciting prospect and why he’s going to the UEFA European Championship with England this summer.
Indeed, the teenager completed his astonishing recent rise by making Roy Hodgson’s 23-man squad for Euro 2016, with the England manager handing out plane tickets on Tuesday. The Three Lions have their team and can now begin plotting their route to success in France.
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The assumption is Rashford will be England’s wild card this summer in much the same way Theo Walcott was for Sven-Goran Eriksson at the 2006 World Cup. Walcott was a teenager too when he was taken to his first major tournament, yet he failed to make an appearance for England in Germany.
Perhaps a more suitable comparison would be with Wayne Rooney, who burst on to the international scene with a series of irrepressible performances at the 2004 European Championship. Back then, as an 18-year-old, the striker was a formidable force of nature, scoring four goals and tearing apart some of international football’s best teams.
Of course, it’s unlikely Rashford will have that kind of impact in France this summer. For starters, he finds himself behind Rooney, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy in the attacking pecking order—and Daniel Sturridge if the Liverpool striker can prove his fitness. Opportunities for the Manchester United man will come off the bench, giving him little time to make a real impression.
But the 18-year-old deserves to be more than just a wild card for England at Euro 2016; he should be an impact player—just like he was at United this season.
It didn’t take former United manager Louis van Gaal long to realise the teenager warranted a more influential role in his squad, and the same realisation could dawn on Hodgson this summer. He might have already realised it, perhaps when Rashford took just over two minutes to score on his international debut.
Too often in the past, England have lacked the swagger of other national teams at major tournaments. Rashford brings some of that to Hodgson’s team, as well as another option in the final third.
He is the antithesis of what England normally are at World Cups and European Championships, and in looking for a change to that identity, this appears to have appealed to Hodgson, who not so long ago seemed to dismiss the idea of taking a largely unproven teenage talent to France, per the Guardian.
On the basis of their last few friendly outings, Hodgson has embraced his team’s attacking identity, experimenting with final-third relationships between Rooney, Kane, Vardy and, of course, Rashford. There are signs this England team could be the most exhilarating and certainly most forward-thinking in a generation—since Kevin Keegan was at the helm.
That will surely benefit Rashford and afford him opportunities at the European Championship. If England are to be a bold, cavalier and slightly gung-ho team this summer, then the Manchester United teenager is, in many ways, the epitome of that. Hodgson’s faith in youngsters and the exuberance they bring is a refreshing departure from the norm of England coaches.
Hodgson must keep in mind what a major tournament induction might mean for the development of Rashford, though.
The manner in which he has taken everything in his stride so far suggests he would able to absorb the pressures of Euro 2016 and all that it could throw his way. Nonetheless, nobody can be absolutely certain of that, and the England manager must be wary—he mustn’t stunt his growth.
While Rooney’s rise was expected, the Liverpudlian seemingly destined for greatness from a young age, Rashford’s has come as rather more of a surprise.
When Van Gaal plotted the season ahead last summer, Rashford didn’t even feature as a peripheral figure in his first-team plans, with the 18-year-old little more than a youth-team member. It was only through injuries that he received his chance in the United first team.
Since then, however, he has passed every test and question that has been posed of him. In the space of just a few months Rashford has scored a double on his Premier League debut (against Arsenal, no less), scored on his Manchester derby debut and scored within just a couple of minutes of his England debut. Hodgson should be brave enough to give him another examination this summer, at least allowing him to test the water in France.
What’s more, Rashford looked to be something of a stylistic and ideological fit in the recent friendly match against Australia at the Stadium of Light. His movement dovetailed nicely with the rest of England’s team, giving Hodgson an extra dimension up and down the channels .
Even Australia manager Ange Postecoglou commented on the groove Rashford finds himself in. “I guess he's on that wave now where he feels pretty good about himself,” he said, per Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail. “Strikers thrive on goals and he took his goal well. Aside from that I thought we handled him okay, but he gets measured on goals and he got one.”
And that is Rashford’s most valuable currency as a prospect: goals. Without them, he wouldn’t have caught the eye this season, and he certainly wouldn’t have made England’s Euro 2016 squad.
Goals are what strikers trade in, and the teenager has an instinct for scoring them. Perhaps that is where the greatest parallel can be drawn with Rooney, the teenage talent who broke out at Euro 2004.
His emergence was unexpected and somewhat unprecedented, but Rashford shares plenty with his captain at both United and England. He might not be set for a summer like Rooney enjoyed back in 2004, but he could shine just as brightly.
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