Wednesday 26 October 2016 12:37, UK
England interim manager Gareth Southgate is adamant he will not rush into a decision over Marcus Rashford being involved in the European U21 Championship next summer.
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has doubts over whether Rashford should feature in the tournament in Poland but Southgate wants to see how the player performs throughout the season.
Mourinho said last week if Rashford was a regular for the senior side he should not play in the competition after England qualified earlier this month.
Southgate gave Rashford his U21 debut in September when he scored a hat-trick in a 6-1 win over Norway and then selected him for his first senior squad in October after Sam Allardyce was dismissed.
Rashford now has five senior caps for England and has scored one goal, but Southgate insists it is too early to think about the situation.
"It's always a case of what's right for the individual player," Southgate said.
"That's why you can't make decisions on players at this stage of the season. You have an idea what you think is the ideal pathway for an international young player but you have to bear in mind the season they have and where they are in terms of being involved in the senior team.
"It's a scenario we went through two years ago but there is a point where young players are still viewed as being part of the development teams. There's also a point where we have to decide if they are still in development teams and is that going to benefit them or have they moved through it?
"As we have seen in the last couple of months Marcus is between the two. We have to wait and see what it looks like as we move forward.
"Everything looking forward is hypothetical, I can only talk more generally, we always try to view what's right for the individual and what experience we'd like them to have to prepare them to go into the senior team and be successful."
Rashford is currently starting ahead of England captain Wayne Rooney at Old Trafford and while Southgate concedes making an early decision would avoid speculation, he insists speaking to United and Mourinho throughout the campaign will be more productive.
He has similar issues with Tottenham duo Dele Alli and Eric Dier and Manchester City pair John Stones and Raheem Sterling, who have all moved into the senior squad since the start of the U21 Qualifiers.
"When there is that clarity it saves us a debate for months about who's going to go," Southgate said.
"I knew from the start of this campaign John and Raheem were going to be with the seniors and then Eric and Dele moved up and were starters in the Euros.
"You are always reviewing where a player's at, how many matches they are playing and what's best for them. We are always liaising with the clubs on that as well.
"Everything I have seen Jose say is perfectly reasonable."
