Marcus Rashford: Man Utd star backed by Erik ten Hag to recover from Euro 2024 snub - 'He is highly talented'

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has backed Marcus Rashford to recover from missing out on England’s Euro 2024 squad.

Rashford was not included in Gareth Southgate’s provisional 33-man squad for this summer’s tournament in Germany, having failed to score for United in the Premier League since the start of March.

Indeed, his eight goals this season is a significant drop-off from the career-high 30 goals he scored for United during the 2022-23 season.

"That is a career," said Ten Hag. "It has ups and downs. But a down can also be fuel. That is what I see in training because he looks good.

"He is highly talented and he will be highly motivated. He has already had a big career. I am sure he will get over this and get even more goals."

Southgate cited Rashford’s struggles this season when explaining why he had not included the 26-year-old in his squad.

"These are difficult calls," Southgate said. "With Marcus I just feel other players in that area have had better seasons. It's as simple as that."

Ajax's Jordan Henderson and Chelsea trio Reece James, Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell were the other big names to miss out, with Southgate favouring younger players such as Jarrell Quansah, Curtis Jones, Jarrad Branthwaite and Adam Wharton instead.

Rashford has the opportunity to salvage something from this season in the FA Cup final against Manchester City on Saturday.

Ten Hag declined to comment on his own future if United lose, consequently missing out on European football next season.

"I have nothing to say on that," he said. "I am focusing on my job, which is first to win the game and then keep going on the project."

He added: "In a season that's not [gone] our way, we are there. We have an opportunity and it will never be easy but we have to go for it and we will go for it.

"We have to believe it as we did last season and as we know, often against good opponents, we play our best football and I expect us to do this on Saturday."

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