NO WAY JOSE HAD HIS SAY
ENGLAND Under-21 boss Aidy Boothroyd insists Jose Mourinho did not pressure him into axing Marcus Rashford from the European Championship.
Boothroyd claims England senior manager Gareth Southgate made the final call on Rashford’s summer, not Manchester United chief Mourinho.
The Old Trafford boss was upset at FA plans to take Rashford to Euro 2017 in Poland, despite the 19-year-old already having caps and goals for the senior side.
Pick
Southgate then decided to pick Rashford for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier in Scotland and next Tuesday’s senior friendly in France, with the striker left out of Boothroyd’s final 23-man squad.
Boothroyd said: “I want all the best players but also my job is a development role. So in the end it never came down to Jose, it was about me talking to Gareth.
“He’s the boss and if he thinks Marcus is better suited with the senior team, and had gone past the 21s, then I can put my two penn’orth in, which I did.
“But for the best for everybody, Marcus went with the senior team.”
Boothroyd had been planning talks with Mourinho to persuade the United chief that Rashford should travel to Poland after netting a hat-trick against Norway in his only Under-21s appearance.
But he says the striker’s end-of-season form propelled him into Southgate’s plans and admitted the striker’s Under-21 career is probably over.
“Since March he has been scoring goals regularly, he has become Manchester United’s No.1 goalscorer,” said Boothroyd.
“If he’d had a bit of a dip it would have suited the Under-21s more, but the fact that he just kept going means he comes into the senior team.
“I think once you’ve moved, you’ve moved.”