Thomas Tuchel believes Marcus Rashford can still become one of the best in the world, but the England head coach has warned he will end up with regrets unless he pushes himself to the limit and improves in the final third.
Tuchel, who also cautiously opened the door to Jude Bellingham being part of England’s leadership group if the midfielder returns to the squad, pulled no punches as he discussed Rashford’s development in the leadup to the World Cup qualifier against Latvia in Riga on Tuesday night. England’s head coach said potential is not enough and made clear that the challenge for the 27-year-old, who has 18 goals in 64 international appearances, is to become more consistent.
“That is the headline for him,” Tuchel said.“To keep on pushing himself to the limit. The limit for him is very, very high. Maybe higher than for others. He has the potential, but potential is a dangerous word with high-level sports.
“You have to reach your personal best on a regular basis. It’s not a question of talent, it’s a question of whether he can prove the point at club and international level. Whether he starts for us or comes off the bench he has to constantly prove himself.
“He can be one of the best in the world. The quality I see in training, the finishing with both legs and with the head. He is explosive, he is fast, he is strong in the air so where are the limits? There are no limits, but the numbers don’t reach the potential. He need to push himself into goal involvements. That means goals and assists. He knows that from me.”
Rashford has struggled to impress for England on a regular basis and was left out of the Euro 2024 squad by Gareth Southgate. The Manchester United academy product had gone almost 18 months without an international appearance before Tuchel took over and picked him in his first squad in March.
Tuchel warned that Rashford has to keep going when he was asked if there was a danger of his career being derailed after he fell out of favour at United. He has scored three goals for Barca since joining the La Liga champions on loan this summer.
“He is still on that,” Tuchel said. “He still has to make these decisions. He is in that moment, he is young enough to take the right decisions and not let go. Otherwise, he will be disappointed in 10 years at what could have been and what he made of it.”
Rashford, who has scored once in five games for Tuchel, enjoyed a revival during a loan spell at Aston Villa last season. “That was quite a bold move because to go in a working team, and a team that was well settled and played a hard-working style, that was a very, very good move for him and he settled in very quickly,” Tuchel said.
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“And for the work-rate against the ball I selected him. And still he had not as many goals and not as many goal involvements as he could have. He creates quite a lot of chances, but for the quality and finishing that we see with training, he just doesn’t score enough. That’s the next step.”
Tuchel also namechecked Harry Kane, John Stones, Jordan Henderson and Declan Rice as the players who drive the squad’s standards. “If you want to call it a ‘leadership group’, they are the leaders at this moment,” he said.
Bellingham was part of Southgate’s leadership group at the Euros. Pressed on whether he would be prepared to entrust the Real Madrid player with a similar role if he returns to the squad, Tuchel said: “I guess so.”
England will qualify for the World Cup if they beat Latvia. Ollie Watkins has pulled out of the squad after injuring himself last Thursday during the friendly win against Wales, but Kane has recovered from a foot problem and will start up front.
