Marcus Rashford Should Not Be Promoted To Senior Side Too Soon, Says Southgate

24 March 2016 16:36

England Under-21 boss Gareth Southgate insists Marcus Rashford will not be fast-tracked, despite the striker's blistering start to his career.

The Manchester United forward has scored five goals in his first eight appearances for the club, including the winner in last week's Manchester derby.

He has been called up by coach Keith Downing for the England Under-20s and could make his debut against Canada in Doncaster on Sunday.

Rashford has previously played for the Under-16s and Under-18s and his form has led to speculation over a possible senior call-up, but Southgate is wary of rushing the 18-year-old's development.

"Probably the top talents in the world get into first teams very young and establish themselves very young," he said ahead of England's Under-21 European Championship qualifier in Switzerland on Saturday.

"We are very conscious that when you promote a young player too quickly there can be fallout from that and at times the right thing is to move them back down and that is always more difficult.

"Life is very different for someone like Marcus, who has just scored the winner in a Manchester derby.

"At club level, at some point he might find himself in their under-21s side and that is a difficult process for a young person to deal with, so we don't want to add to that internationally.

"Let's assess his progress. There is no rush. Roy has got a very settled squad and is very strong in that area of the pitch. Everyone I speak to at United says he's very level-headed, so they don't have concerns about his mentality, but of course his world has changed dramatically in the last few weeks."

Southgate, though, has included new boys Matt Grimes and Rolando Aarons in the squad, but Hull's Arsenal loanee Isaac Hayden has withdrawn due to injury.

He has also been working with sacked Derby boss Paul Clement this week after the ex-Real Madrid assistant left the iPro Stadium last month.

Clement has joined Southgate and Chelsea number two Steve Holland at St George's Park and will travel to Switzerland with the squad and the head coach admitted he could not pass up the chance.

Southgate said: "I had conversations with him while he was at Derby because their under-21s play here quite a lot. He was passing through quite a bit. I actually went down to Chelsea to catch up with Ruben (Loftus-Cheek), Steve and Guus (Hiddink) and Paul was visiting at the same time so we watched training together.

"As I was driving away I thought it was a silly opportunity not to take up."

But Southgate conceded Clement is unlikely to be a long-term appointment.

He added: "We are going down a model of full-time assistant coaches, I think Paul might have opportunities which may appeal a bit more than being an assistant coach with us. We'll enjoy it while he's here and he's enjoyed the week with us."

Source: PA-WIRE