England boss Gareth Southgate has claimed that Manchester United's Marcus Rashford possesses the ability to emulate a role in the Rooney-Ronaldo-Tevez trio.

Man-of-the-match vs Slovakia

Following the 19-year-old's eventful performance against Slovakia, where he was partly at fault for the visitor's opener yet claimed an assist and the eventual match winning goal, Southgate spoke of how the 'flexible' teenager can be part of a trio similar to the formidable front line of Manchester United around 10 years ago.

The England boss said that "“I think he can play [up front], but you saw what he is capable of here and in Malta on the other wing."

Rashford's impression on those games led to Southgate seeing a resemblance in playing style to a previous successful trio at Old Trafford. He continued to say, "if you have flexible forwards who can play across the front line if you think of United’s great forward line with Rooney, Tevez, and Ronaldo, interchanging then it is important.”

Embed from Getty Images

Does England possess a promising future front line?

Marcus Rashford isn't the only English youngster who's made headlines in the Premier League over the last few years. Tottenham duo Harry Kane and Dele Alli are also tipped to be the nations leading players over the next few years.

Southgate has suggested a combination, where Rashford, Kane and Alli can combine to bring England the long-awaited success. He spoke of the youth talent within the national team, saying that "the great thing is that if you look at our forwards with Dele [Alli], who is only a year older [than Rashford], Harry [Kane] is only a couple of years older. We have some really exciting players coming through the under-21s as well."

Southgate is aware of their capabilities, continuing by saying "we know we can score goals, that is encouraging, and if we get the other bits right then we know we are dangerous in any game.”

VAVEL Logo
About the author