Keane tells Tuchel that Man Utd man should start for England over Newcastle star | OneFootball

Roy Keane thinks Man Utd forward Marcus Rashford should be starting for England ahead of Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

The Three Lions, who had already qualified for the World Cup, beat Serbia 2-0 in a comfortable World Cup qualifying win on Thursday night, thanks for goals from Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze.

Rashford started for England against Serbia on Thursday before eventually being replaced by Eze on 64 minutes after impressing on loan at Barcelona this season.

Gordon, who has not had the best season for Newcastle, missed the Serbia victory with a knee injury and Rashford faces a battle to start ahead of the Newcastle star at the World Cup in the summer.

But Man Utd legend Keane reckons Rashford should be starting for England ahead of Gordon when both fit as the Red Devils loanee gives more of a “threat”.

Keane said on ITV: “If you’re comparing the two of them, Rashford and Gordon at their very best, I’m going for Rashford.

“He (Rashford) can still frustrate you, of course, but he’s a threat and when he’s on top form he is a handful. You wouldn’t want to face him.”

Speaking during his half-time analysis of Rashford’s performance, the Man Utd legend added: “He’s been busy [against Serbia], he’s been lively, he’s made a couple of runs but he’s probably a little disappointed with his end product because he’s in great form and doing really well at Barcelona.

“His movement off the ball… He looks confident. Nice link up play on the left-hand side [with Nico O’Reilly]. He’s been a threat. But at the end of it, you want a bit more.”

Emile Heskey and Wayne Rooney are both worried about the lack of striker depth as Harry Kane played 65 minutes against Serbia.

Heskey said on The Wayne Rooney Show: “We’ve been lucky over the years we could see where the next strikers were coming.

“We had a chain of players who could go from that next level, I came in after [Alan] Shearer and Rooney came after me, but where do we look now?

“We always had that chain but we are struggling to find [the next one] now.”

Rooney added: “We talk about how many games players are playing now. We had an opportunity where we don’t need to see Kane, and rest him.

“Kane shouldn’t play for England again until the World Cup. We don’t need to see him, we know what he can do.”

On a lack of number nines in England and globally, Rooney said: “I just think it is purely because they don’t want to play number nines now with the way the game is.

“If you look worldwide there’s not many number nines, so it is not just England.”

He added: “Everyone wants to be a Mo Salah or a Lionel Messi, and playing as a forward now you don’t touch the ball as much – and you have to be ruthless like Erling Haaland is and Kylian Mbappe.

“There are no number nines out there, even Kane isn’t an out and out nine.”

Heskey continued: “Forwards had to be so much more involved when we were playing. You’d have to chase things into the channel, you’d have to win the flick-ons.

“Now your two number eights are doing more, your wingers are quite wide, you don’t have to get involved as much now.”