Paul Merson believes that Marcus Rashford should start for England at the World Cup. He also believes that Luke Shaw should not go to the World Cup as he is not starting for Manchester United and will lack match practice. Merson believes manager Gareth Southgate finds himself in a serious predicament as his loyalty makes it tough for him to leave out his big-name players.
“It’s alright at the moment and he can get away with it today because there are another two months to go until the World Cup. But come November, if Harry Maguire is only playing Europa League football, how do you play him in Qatar?” Paul Merson said about Marcus Rashford. “I think Marcus Rashford should feel hard done by. If he wasn’t injured, I think he would have got into this squad and I think he’ll get into the final 26-man World Cup squad if he keeps doing what he’s doing. It does depend on what Ivan Toney does in the two Nations League games this month. I think the Brentford man has a chance otherwise there’s no point of him being there in the September squad.”
“I don’t think anyone else will get into the England fold between now and the World Cup. There are not too many English footballers playing well at the moment. Roy Keane hit it on the head when he said: if you’re not playing for your country, you’re not very good,” he added. “I can’t think of anyone who’s not playing for England right now who is good, there are not a lot of players left out there. People talk to me about Jadon Sancho, but he’s scored two Premier League goals and got no assists. He’s not ripping it up, and while he scored a good goal against Liverpool he’s in a queue of a lot of players in that position.”
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