RASHFORD’S OMISSION IS A MASSIVE MISTAKE…

CONSIDERING the spread of attacking talent at Gareth Southgate’s disposal and his dismal club form this season, Marcus Rashford cannot count himself unlucky not to be in this ludicrously bloated, provisional England squad.

He might have hoped to be in the original 33, but even the supremely self-confident Rashford must have thought his chances of making the needlessly-inflated 26-man party to Germany were not that fantastic.

His omission, though, is still being seen as a bold call by Southgate, a brave one, the type of decision that many have been asking him to make – one based on a thorough examination of how a player has been performing week in, week out, in the most recent history.

Recency bias, as Southgate once disparagingly called it.

Whatever it is, it is the wrong call. No matter how poor Rashford has been this season, a 26-man allowance gives Southgate the chance of a luxury pick, a gamble, an option he is not certain of, or a loyalty pick.

Despite his previous support – and despite the 57 caps he has given Rashford – Southgate has never been as ardent a supporter of the Manchester United forward as most would imagine.

He has taken Rashford to three tournaments, but this England manager has given him only two starts in those – and both came when qualification from the group stage had already been secured, against Belgium at Russia 2018 and against Wales at Qatar 2022, when he scored twice.

In his first game as England manager – a home win over Malta on October 8, 2016 – Southgate used Rashford as a substitute and has done the same on 31 occasions since.

Of Rashford’s 60 caps – three were under Roy Hodgson, above – only 26 have been starts.

And Southgate cannot have been impressed when Rashford, 26, pulled out of a squad for a couple of Euro 2024 qualifiers early last year, only then to post social media pictures of himself holidaying in New York.

But impact substitutes at major championships can be invaluable and that is exactly the role Rashford should have fulfilled in Germany this summer.

Yes, there is a lot of attacking brilliance in Southgate’s squad but, even in this slump, Rashford remains a player whose speed, strength and skill is not what a tired defender wants to see being introduced late in a match.

Before the squad is trimmed to 26, he should have at least been given the chance to show Southgate, in training at St George’s Park and in the upcoming friendlies, that he was suitably fired up by reaction to his poor season, by criticism of elements of his lifestyle, by suggestions he might not be as fully committed to the England cause as some.

But the United man has not been given the chance to show that a fired-up Rashford is a weapon that Southgate, for all his attacking riches, should not leave at home.

Maybe it is bold call, maybe it is brave, and many will think it is a correct call.

And, for those of us who disagree with it, at least it is a reminder that England must have one hell of a squad if Marcus Rashford cannot get into it.