Ex-Manchester United defender Paul Parker says Marcus Rashford still doesn’t deserve to start for England despite his outstanding scoring record this season.

The 25-year-old’s brace against Leicester City at the weekend means he has now hit the back of the net 24 times in all competitions but Parker believes England boss Gareth Southgate will favour players such as Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane:

“Rashford is scoring goals which is great but he is not a phenomenal player. He is not a player that is competing to be in the starting lineup for England. Most of his goals are scored as a centre forward inside the small area of the penalty box and there is no way that Southgate will bench Harry Kane. And he is not good enough to play as a wide player for the national team. Bukayo Saka is one of the first players on Southgate’s team and he is very loyal to his players.”

It should be noted that Rashford and Saka favour playing on opposite sides of the pitch so they wouldn’t be in direct competition for a place in England’s starting eleven anyway.

In terms of the players that Rashford would actually be competing against, Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling is struggling for form and fitness, along with Manchester City’s Phil Foden.

The only other candidate that Southgate might consider is Jack Grealish but, even then, there is no comparison between the two in terms of numbers. The City star has only eight goal contributions in total, compared to Rashford’s 32.