Roy Hodgson sprang a surprise at his Euro 2016 squad announcement and now wants his England side to do the same by channelling Leicester's unexpected success.
Hodgson named uncapped 18-year-old Marcus Rashford in an expanded 26-man party on Monday and has vowed to give him the chance to stake a claim for a place in France.
Rashford has made just 16 appearances for Manchester United, scoring seven goals, and is the most callow of a group noticeably short on significant international experience.
Only three players on the long-list have 50 caps or more and captain Wayne Rooney is responsible for 51 of the squad's 77 goals.
But Hodgson has taken Leicester's shock Barclays Premier League title campaign as the touchstone for upsetting the odds.
"I don't want the players to be fearful, I don't want the players to be weighed down by expectations or thoughts of what might happen if they don't succeed," he said.
"We've seen this year the example with Leicester City: weeks and weeks turning into months and months of how long can this last? Is it all going to crack up? Can you really make the Champions League? Can you finish above this team or that team? Can you win the league?
"Each time what they've done is work hard, try hard and tried to make certain going into each game they're capable of winning it. That's all we can do as well.
"It's happened in the past. Nobody expected Denmark to win it in '92; nobody expected Greece to win the Euros (in 2004); no one expected Leicester to win the league."
Rashford is likely to have just one chance - against Australia on May 27 - to try to force his way into the final squad, and Hodgson rates that as a tough ask but not an impossible one.
"There's no reason, if he does exceptionally well, why he can't knock someone off their perch,'' he said.
"We're keen to see what he can do. In the week that we work with him and possibly a game or part of a game that he plays, we might start thinking, 'We really need this fella, he is actually better than some of the others we were contemplating ahead of him certainly a few months ago'.
"We've had conversations with people at the club about him and we, like everyone else in the country, are quite excited about this boy's potential."
While Rashford's future clearly looks bright, Hodgson's is an open question.
Preparing to take charge of his third tournament and out of contract after the championship, the 68-year-old remains eager to stay at the helm.
"The fact is I'm available, I'm ready to carry on, I'm happy to carry on,'' he said.
"It would depend upon what the FA want, what the general public wants, although that's harder to judge of course. I shall wait to see.
"Why would anyone - especially at this moment of time when I think the England squad is on the brink of doing something good or capable of doing something good - want to walk away?"
Source: PA
