Marcus Rashford, Manchester United forward, has admitted he may have opted to undergo shoulder surgery instead of going with the England squad to Euro 2020, had he known he “wouldn’t play a significant role”.
In a lengthy social media post, Rashford hit out at critics who labelled him as “selfish”, for choosing to join the Three Lions’ squad and delaying his operation.
Rashford is optimistic he will play again before the end of October, but could miss United’s first 11 games of the season in the Premier League and Champions League, as well as England’s next five World Cup qualifiers.
The decision to have an operation was made following talks between the 23-year-old and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer this week.
Rashford wrote: “In hindsight, if I had known (sic) I wouldn’t have played a significant role in the Euros, would I have gone? Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn’t it…
“I didn’t want to let anyone down but ultimately looking at some of my performances towards the end of last season I felt like I was.”
Rashford racked up just 84 minutes of football in the whole of Euro 2020 and failed to score a single goal. He was also one of the three England players to miss a penalty in the final against Italy.