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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Liam Wood

Gareth Southgate delivers encouraging Marcus Rashford message to Manchester United

Gareth Southgate said he has been delighted with Marcus Rashford and his application at the World Cup as he bids for an England recall against France on Saturday night.

Rashford, 25, was omitted from the Three Lions' starting XI against Senegal despite his two-goal heroics during the preceding victory over Wales. It was a surprising decision that was, ultimately, justified with Bukayo Saka getting on the scoresheet after replacing the in-form United forward.

While he was summoned from the England bench to win his 50th cap on Sunday night, Rashford has seldom been around the international squad in the months that followed his agonising penalty miss during the Euro 2020 defeat to Italy. However, the academy graduate has now put a testing time for club and country behind him.

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Following his well-documented struggles last season, Rashford has improved since Erik ten Hag was appointed United manager. Indeed, the rejuvenated forward scored eight goals and provided three assists in 19 outings for his club to book himself a flight to Qatar - where he has impressed on and off the pitch.

Southgate was asked about Rashford during his pre-match press conference ahead of the France game. He said: "Marcus is in really good form. He hadn't been with us for 18 months. It has been a difficult period for him in terms of his form.

"I really like how he has been in this camp, very happy within himself, smiling a lot, enjoying his football and training well every day and [looking] dangerous in every game he has started or come on the pitch. So football wise he's in a really good place for us."

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