Marcus Rashford played in a European Championships at 18, four months after he was an unknown who had never played first-team football. At 26, a year after the season of his life, he has not made the provisional 33-man squad, let alone the final cut. The rise of Rashford was initially a swift, startling affair. If last season brought the resurgence of Rashford, with a career-best 30 goals, this brought a sudden, shocking fall that has led to a further precipitous drop, out of England contention.
Some 12 players were listed as forwards in Gareth Southgate’s training squad for Euro 2024. Rashford was not one of them. “With Marcus, I just feel other players in that area of the pitch have had better seasons. It’s as simple as that,” he said. The comparison with Jarrod Bowen, scorer of 20 goals for West Ham, or Anthony Gordon, in double figures for Premier League goals and assists, did not flatter Rashford. He was overtaken by the emergence of Cole Palmer, who delivered 25 goals and 14 assists in a remarkable campaign for Chelsea, and the end-of-season flourish from Eberechi Eze, who scored five times in his last six games for Crystal Palace.
