'Jose thinks the world of Marcus' - Southgate on Rashford

Rashford’s lack of regular first team playing time has led people to wonder if Mourinho trusts in the youngster’s abilities, but Southgate has shed some light on the issue.

Southgate, who coached England to fourth place in the Russia 2018 World Cup finals says he understands that club coaches have difficult decisions to make adding that he was not in any place to interfere with them.

The 48-year-old also added that he was certain Rashford would have had a confidence boost having recently scored against “top opposition”.

“Jose thinks the world of Marcus,” he told Goal.

“He’s a huge admirer of him, but he has got his job to do. There is huge competition for places at his club so you can understand that.

“I understand the difficulties that club managers have. They have to try and win matches. They have to rotate their squads.

“It’s not my business to interfere with club managers. They have a difficult job to do and they have big squads at the top six, with huge competition for places.”

“We really wanted to make Marcus feel important over this period,” said Southgate.

“It was important especially to get him in the penalty box and remembering the areas he needs to be scoring goals from.

“His confidence will be boosted I’m sure, with two goals against top-quality opposition.”