Gareth Southgate insists he has no problem with Marcus Rashford’s decision to fly to New York after dropping out of the England squad.
Manchester United ’s red-hot striker ruled himself out of the reckoning to face Italy and Ukraine in the Three Lions’ two opening Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Rashford has now missed five of England’s last six non-tournament internationals - and there were a few raised eyebrows when he posted a picture of himself on Instagram enjoying a break with his girlfriend on the other side of the Atlantic while his team-mates were battling for a place in Germany next summer.
Southgate said: “Once Marcus is ruled out of the squad, it’s entirely up to him how he spends his time.
“The players don’t get a lot of breaks and I’m sure some of them will be flying off after tomorrow’s game if they get 48 hours off with the schedule as it is.
“We are always linking with clubs on scans and assessments.
“There is also how every individual player feels, so there is a lot involved.
“I am always working with the players on what the best solution is for them.
“Of course, we always want the players and we always want to work with them as often as we can.
“In every squad we have, we always lose a couple. My focus then has to be on the group that are here, and how do we win the games?”
Rashford, 25, is in the form of his life and has scored 25 goals for United this season.
Old Trafford team-mate Luke Shaw opted to continue training with England ahead of the Wembley meeting with Ukraine despite being banned after his sending off in Thursday night’s 2-1 victory over defending Euro champions Italy.
Southgate added: “Marcus is in good form and we’d love to have had him as an option for this camp - but we haven’t got him.
“We always make a judgement on how people are playing and he’s obviously played a lot for us.
“Marcus has over 50 caps now for England and close to 50 of those have been since I’ve been the manager.
“So I’ve known him a long time. I know what he’s capable of. It’s good to see him in the goalscoring form he’s in.
“There’s been a period in the last couple of years where he’s not been as hot as that and that’s been frustrating for everybody to see but he is in good form and we hope that can continue.”
Southgate has warned his players that they must show no mercy to a Ukrainian team trying to bring some joy to their war-torn nation.
The England manager dismissed the suggestion that anything other than a victory is on his agenda.
Southgate, who saw Chelsea ’s Reece James exit his squad, said: “I think we all want to pay our respects and show our support - and that’s important for all of us.
“But as soon as Ukraine enter the competition, they want to go through and it’s game on.
“In a football sense, we need to do what we need to do to win the game.
“We want to win games of football. Our job is to qualify.
“Our job is to represent our country with the pride that they’re going to represent their country with.
“I would be worried if our players don’t have the same level of motivation that Ukraine have.”
