Marcus Rashford has had a season to forget for Manchester United, with just eight goals across all competitions so far after scoring a career-high 30 the year prior.
Rashford's struggles are reflected in the Red Devils' own fortunes in the current campaign, as the team have fewer goals than 14 other Premier League sides and sit in sixth place.
Regardless of his club woes, Rashford contunes to be a part of Gareth Southgate's England set-up ahead of Euro 2024, with the 26-year-old most recently seeing the pitch as a substitute in England's 1-0 loss to Brazil last month.
One former England star actually believes Rashford should take on a bigger role this summer for the Three Lions, as Michael Owen says the struggling Red Devil provides something that few others in the national team do.
Speaking to Instant Casinos, Owen made a case for Rashford to be a starter for Southgate's side.
"If we don’t have someone like Rashford, then I don’t think we have masses and masses of pace to frighten the life out of anyone," Owen said. "I think when you have a combination of the likes of [Jude] Bellingham, [Phil] Foden and [Bukayo] Saka and then you have the raw pace of Rashford, teams won’t know whether they are coming or going.
"You won’t be able to defend for pace or against pockets. To defend against pockets you have got to play a couple of tight lines, which then gives space in behind unless you’re playing very very deep and then you’re just going to be playing into England’s hands in many ways.
"So it’s lovely to have a combination of pace and skill and I think with Rashford in there we certainly tick a massive box of having pace. Alternatives, who have we got? If we play two sixes then it takes away one of our top players and I think it’s overkill."
Owen further illustrated why Rashford would start if he were in charge, laying out the alternatives for a different-looking squad should Southgate depart from his preferred formation that includes two holding midfielders.
"If we play one six, then other people to consider are the likes of Jack Grealish, who is injured at the moment, we’ve got James Maddison at Tottenham who needs a shout, we’ve got Cole Palmer at Chelsea who I’m a massive fan of and who could be a late arrival into the team, but I think of all these options, we get more in the team when we play one six which is what I would do," he said.
"And at the moment I’d be playing Rashford on the left and keeping an eye on Cole Palmer. So Saka on the right, Foden as the 10, Rashford on the left with [Harry] Kane up front and Bellingham and [Declan] Rice in midfield."
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