Louis van Gaal believes that Marcus Rashford’s age and inexperience should not prevent him from going to Euro 2016 this summer if Roy Hodgson thinks that the teenage striker is good enough.
Rashford has enjoyed a remarkable rise from youth-team prospect to deadly top-flight striker. The 18-year-old has scored four goals and one assist since he was drafted into United’s starting line-up against Midtjylland in the Europa League nine days ago.
Rashford’s progress has not gone unnoticed by Hodgson, the England manager, who has opened the door to the possibility of the young forward making a late surge into his squad for the European Championship finals in France.
Calling up an inexperienced 18-year-old, who still attends a local sixth form college two days a week, would be a shock, but Van Gaal would have no objection to the teenager going to France. “It is never too early,” the United manager said. “I have said that a lot of times. Age is not important. It’s the quality [of the player] that matters.”
Van Gaal’s stance comes as a surprise as he objected to suggestions that Jesse Lingard, another United academy graduate, was ready for the international stage in November, before he earned his first call-up.
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Rashford’s displays have helped United progress to the last 16 of the Europa League and move level with Manchester City in the Barclays Premier League. A local lad, Rashford has also brought a feelgood factor to the club who he has supported all his life.
But Van Gaal was keen to point out that the youngster should be thankful to his manager for giving him a chance to shine.
“I have read that Rashford is saving me. No, no,” Van Gaal said. “Rashford is [succeeding] thanks to my policy, and the club. He is there because of that. And it’s the same thing for Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Guillermo Varela and a lot of other players. Now the youngsters have made a great contribution for the new spirit in our team,” he added.
Some United fans became dismayed at what looked to be a Real Madrid-style “Galactico” recruitment policy under Van Gaal. Ed Woodward, the executive vice-chairman at Old Trafford, has spent more than a quarter of a billion pounds since Van Gaal was appointed two years ago. But if he is still at the helm next season, Van Gaal intends to rein in the spending as he wants to give more opportunities to academy graduates.
“Of course, yes,” Van Gaal said when asked whether the emergence of his youngsters could affect the club’s transfer policy this summer. “In January we took a risk in the left-back position. We needed a left back and we enquired about a lot of players, but we said OK, maybe Borthwick-Jackson and Varela can do the job. There was interest in Varela from Spanish teams but we said ‘no’ ”, he added.
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Phil Jones, Antonio Valencia, Marouane Fellaini, Ashley Young and Bastian Schweinsteiger are all nearing a return to full fitness, but will not be considered for tomorrow’s Premier League trip to West Bromwich Albion.
Van Gaal has so much confidence in the young players who have taken their place in the squad that he insists those coming back from injury will have to prove their form and fitness in the reserves before being considered for first-team selection.
Fans see red at United’s white
Manchester United fans have reacted angrily to the club’s plans for them to form a “wall of white” mosaic by wearing free replica away shirts at Anfield next week.
The club announced that they would send a complimentary United away shirt to each fan attending the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16, first-leg tie away to Liverpool on Thursday. The shirts will be delivered by DHL, the club sponsor, next week.
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United wanted the 2,685 fans with tickets to the match to wear the shirt to highlight the difference between themselves and the home supporters, who traditionally wear red to home and away games.
“We would like you to wear it at the match to help create a ‘Wall of White’ as the team walks out,” United said in a letter to ticket holders.
But many travelling United fans do not wear their team’s shirts to away matches and have no intention of changing their approach.
John Thompson, a United fan, wrote on Twitter: “Nice gesture . . . But a fundamental misunderstanding of the mentality of away fans. Shirts at Anfield?”
United defended the idea last night and a club spokesperson said: “It’s obviously a huge game with a place in a European quarter-final at stake. We want to create a mosaic-style effect but in a slightly different way. It’s up to the fans if they decide to take part or not.”