Gareth Southgate did say. When the England manager announced his squad for the Wembley friendlies with Brazil and Belgium, he made clear that Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish faced competition for their Euro 2024 places from the next generation of wide attackers – specifically Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer. There was also a prominent namecheck for Jarrod Bowen.
As the dust settled on the international window, which was defined for Southgate by injury chaos and the usual debate about who had advanced their claims or hurt them, it was easy to go back to those words. And to process another round of them that, for Rashford in particular, did not sound encouraging.
