Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Manchester United are sweating over the fitness of striker Marcus Rashford after he pulled out of Gareth Southgate's latest England squad through injury.
The 21-year-old, who has scored six goals in 31 appearances for England, was forced to train alone on Thursday before his ankle was assessed.
And, Southgate told his Thursday evening press conference that the injury was severe enough to rule Rashford out of the nation's opening Euro 2020 qualifier against the Czech Republic at Wembley on Friday and Monday's trip to Montenegro.
Rashford initially suffered the problem in United's goalless draw against Liverpool last month, but he has managed to play the following four matches.
But Southgate is adamant that he is not at the required level to be considered for the upcoming two games.
He said: "He's been with our medical team all week and tried to take part in training.
"It's clear he's not going to be ready for our matches, so we'll send him back to the club and he's out of our two games.
"We knew a couple of days ago Marcus wouldn't be ready for but it's great opportunity for a few others. We've lost a lot of players but it's an opportunity for others."
United boss Ole Gunner Solskjaer must now wait to see if Rashford can recover in time for the Premier League visit of Watford on March 30 as the side continues the fight to qualify for the Champions League via a top-four finish.
Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial, Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic are the other players also racing to be fit for the Hornets game having withdrawn from international duty with respective injury problems.
