Marcus Rashford Ready for Crucial World Cup with England
Theo Walcott has thrown his weight behind Marcus Rashford to light up a third World Cup, insisting the Barcelona winger is ready for “a really important summer” with England.
Rashford, revitalised in Spain after his loan move from Manchester United, heads to the tournament on the back of his best club season in years. Fourteen goals in all competitions, 14 assists and a title-clinching free-kick against Real Madrid for a Barcelona side crowned La Liga champions – this is not a player clinging to past reputation, but one arriving in form and in full voice.
At 28, he is no longer the prodigy. He is part of the spine. And Walcott, who knows all about the glare of a World Cup call-up after his own shock selection as a 16-year-old in 2006, believes Rashford has grown into exactly that kind of figure.
“I’m really pleased for Marcus Rashford. When I look at the whole squad, I focus on him,” Walcott said on the Live Show, broadcast on the official England app. “He takes risks, he took a risk by going abroad as well and he has been rewarded for that. I am pleased for him, I think he is going to have a really important summer and we can lean on him.
“He has a lot of experience and he is exciting, he has brought that freedom back into his game so I am looking forward to seeing how he develops on that stage.”
That word – freedom – has defined Rashford’s year in Catalonia. Released from the tactical straitjacket that at times weighed on him at Old Trafford, he has attacked La Liga defences with a looseness and confidence that once again makes him look like a match-winner rather than a supporting act. Thomas Tuchel has seen enough to include him in a 26-man squad heading to the United States, adding 2024 to his World Cup appearances in 2018 and 2022.
Walcott’s endorsement carries weight, but he was not the only former England forward purring over the squad. Sitting alongside him, Daniel Sturridge – a World Cup traveller himself in 2014 under Roy Hodgson – zeroed in on a midfield group that blends youthful flair with hardened know-how.
Midfield with bite and imagination
Kobbie Mainoo’s name jumps off the list. So does Jude Bellingham’s. Then there is Declan Rice, Jordan Henderson, Elliot Anderson, Morgan Rogers and Eberechi Eze. It is a unit built to run, to press, to create – and to take risks.
“There are big stories across the board but it’s an incredible selection and you have to give the manager credit for going with what he thinks is best,” Sturridge said.
“They are exciting players – Kobbie Mainoo was out the fold at Manchester United and has worked his way back in, so I am really happy for him.
“Morgan Rogers has just lifted a Europa League so he will be full of confidence. Hendo (Jordan Henderson) brings that experience, that mindset. It’s a really exciting midfield.”
The threads are easy to trace. Mainoo, once drifting on the fringes at United, has forced his way back into the picture and now into a World Cup squad. Rogers arrives as a European champion, sharp and buoyant. Bellingham and Rice are already established stars. Henderson, so often the lightning rod for debate, remains a trusted voice and a reference point in the dressing room.
This is a midfield that can change the tempo of a game in a single passage of play. It can also change the mood of a tournament.
A backline full of first-timers and one seasoned guide
If the midfield brims with storylines, the defence carries one of the most compelling of all. At 34, Dan Burn is preparing for his first World Cup. Six caps into his England career, the towering Newcastle centre-back now steps into the sport’s biggest arena, a late bloomer with a chance to write a chapter he once might not have dared to imagine.
Defensively, he joins Ezri Konsa, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Jarrell Quansah, Tino Livramento, Nico O’Reilly, Djed Spence and Reece James in a backline that feels fresh, tall, quick – and, in many cases, untested at this level.
“Burn is a great story,” Walcott said. “He brings that energy, chemistry and connection with all the players there. It’s a lot of their first World Cups in that backline and the defence has been brilliant in the qualifying stages.
“I am pleased for John Stones as well, he will be the guy a lot of them can learn from, going into this with World Cup experience behind him. It’s a nice line-up with a lot of youth, which is great to see.”
Stones becomes the anchor, the one defender who has walked this path before. Around him, younger teammates will lean on his composure and sense of timing, both in possession and in tournament management. Burn’s presence adds personality and steel, while the likes of James, Konsa and Guehi bring mobility and aggression.
The pattern is clear across the squad. Experience threaded through with daring selections. Veterans asked to guide, not to block. Talents like Rashford, Bellingham and Rice expected not just to contribute, but to take charge of England’s story this summer.
For Rashford in particular, this feels like a crossroads World Cup. Reborn in Barcelona, backed publicly by peers who have worn the shirt and felt the pressure, he walks into a tournament not as a hopeful youngster, but as a man England “can lean on”.
The stage is familiar. The role is not. How he embraces it may define more than just his summer.
