Marcus Rashford to join up with England after ‘personal matters’ delay arrival

Marcus Rashford will join the England squad in the next 24 hours after the Manchester United forward was given permission to delay meeting up because of “personal matters”.

Gareth Southgate allowed Rashford, 26, to meet up with the rest of his 23-man squad later than expected to deal with the undisclosed private matter, and confirmed Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips will also report later than planned for his own personal reasons.

Southgate is expected to assess Rashford before deciding whether he plays on Friday against Malta or be rested for the trip to Skopje to face North Macedonia next week. Conor Gallagher is pushing for a start this week after Jude Bellingham was ruled out with a shoulder injury. With Levi Colwill and Lewis Dunk pulling out with injuries, Marc Guehi has put himself in the frame to be played.

Rashford has played some of his best football for England this season, scoring one of his two goals during the campaign in the 150th anniversary match against Scotland.

But at club level he has seen his form questioned recently, with his club manager Erik ten Hag revealing neither he nor his player were happy with performances this season.

During this period he was criticised by Ten Hag for his nightclub birthday party hours after the Manchester derby defeat. It was also revealed last week that his football-agent brother, Dane, has been charged by police in Florida, USA.

Rashford is scheduled to join up with the current squad later in the week at their St George’s Park base ahead of the double-header to conclude Group C, with a place in next year’s Germany finals already secured but points needed to secure top-seeding for the draw.

Phillips will also meet up with the squad later in the week due to personal reasons, while Bellingham will return to Real Madrid for his rehabilitation, with the 20-year-old not playing in the last two games for his club.

Colwill has also suffered a shoulder injury and was not involved in Chelsea’s 4-4 draw against Manchester City at the weekend, adding to Southgate’s injury concerns at left-back as Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell are already out. He is likely to play Kieran Trippier in that position at some stage of the two matches.

Ezri Konsa, Cole Palmer and Rico Lewis have been called up this week to cover for injuries suffered.