England and Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney has heaped praise on Marcus Rashford following his remarkable rise in recent months.
The 18-year-old striker made his club debut as an emergency late injury replacement in February, but went on to become a regular for United and ended the season with eight goals and an FA Cup winner's medal.
That form earned him a place in Roy Hodgson's squad for Euro 2016 this summer, and he wasted no time in making an impact at international level either, scoring after just 138 seconds of his England debut.
"Yeah, he's been great. At the time he came into the team at United, we were going through a bit of a bad period and to come into the team and take to it like he did was incredible really," Rooney told FATV.
"The manager kept faith in him so he kept his place in the team and showed what he could do. Roy put him in the 26 and it was really down to Marcus then to show that he was capable of being in the 23, and he certainly did that after a couple of minutes, getting his first goal for England.
"I always think that, for young lads, it's probably better to leave them and not fill them with advice - 'you should do this, you should do that'. Just let them go and play because that's what's got them to the position they're in today."
Rooney is one of just two players to have scored an England goal at a younger age than Rashford, alongside Michael Owen.
Barney Corkhill
