Gareth Southgate has said that Marcus Rashford still has a chance of making England’s World Cup squad despite being left out of the forthcoming Nations League camp.
Rashford has not been included in a squad by Southgate for almost year but was expected to be recalled until suffering a muscle injury in Manchester United's recent 3-1 win over Arsenal.
The 24-year-old's last international appearance came in the European Championship final, which ended with him missing a penalty in England's shoot-out defeat to Italy.
Southgate selected a 28-man squad for this month's meetings with Italy and Germany but said that those omitted still had a chance of being picked for Qatar.
“This is a bigger than normal squad and part of the rationale is that we are very close to a World Cup and we feel, although our results were disappointing in the summer, we have picked on the basis of form and capability over a long period,” the England manager said.
“There were certain players we wanted to keep involved this time, but that said it doesn’t mean that this is the end for some of the others who aren’t involved.
“Marcus Rashford, for example, has shown some encouraging signs recently. He is a player we know well so if he can perform at a high level in the next few weeks, he of course will be under consideration.”
Southgate also overlooked Rashford's United team-mate Jadon Sancho, while Ben White, Conor Gallagher and James Justin dropped out of the squad from the last camp this summer. Ivan Toney has been handed his first call-up, while Eric Dier returns to the squad for the first time in over a year.
The England manager has kept faith with several players who are not playing regularly at club level and suggested that he wanted to show loyalty to those who have performed at international level in the past.
“Clearly, we have a number of players including Ben Chilwell, Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips who are not playing a lot of minutes with their club.
“It is not ideal, but we feel they have been, and can be, important players for us. It is not a perfect situation but there is still a lot of football to be played before Qatar.
“With Eric Dier, he has been playing well for a period of time. We think it is a really close call across our centre-backs and he has deserved to be picked back in the group. We know what a good character he is. He fits in with the culture and has great international experience and leadership qualities.
“With Ivan Toney, we have been tracking him for a long time. I had a good chat with [Brentford manager] Thomas Frank about him last season.
“His form and his qualities - not only his goalscoring but his technical ability, build-up play and aerial prowess - gives us a different threat to some of the other players we could pick."
