Gareth Southgate insists Marcus Rashford’s EURO 2024 snub is purely based on performance after the forward missed out on the England squad.
Rashford was one of a number of England regulars to miss out on a call up to Three Lions squad for this summer’s European Championships in Germany.
Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell, Reece James and Levi Colwill were also not called up as England manager Southgate leaned towards youth in his 33-man provisional squad.
When asked to explain his reasoning behind Rashford’s absence, the 53-year-old admitted others have just performed better in his positions:
“These are difficult calls, you’re talking about players who are very good and have been an important part of things we have done.
“I just feel that other players in that part of the pitch have had better seasons, as simple as that.”
Injuries doubts have plagued the Three Lions squad, one of which was Henderson, who Southgate says injury was a major factor in the former Liverpool captain’s omission:
“The determining factor was the injury he picked up at the last camp. He has missed five weeks and was not quite able to get up to the intensity.
“He is a fantastic professional and it was a difficult call to make.
“If we picked tomorrow we might end up taking a dozen defenders because we have so many [injury] questions, and we obviously don’t want to do that. Hopefully in time things become clearer.
“We’ve never had so many unknown situations. We’ve had tournaments where we’ve taken a players where we know they will be back for a certain moment. We’re used to dealing with it.
“I always like to give players as much clarity as possible. But on this occasion we’re not able to do that.”
Watch what else Southgate has to say here:
