Manchester United stars Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho have been left out of Gareth Southgate’s latest England squad ahead of their upcoming Nations League fixtures.
The England manager named his 28-man squad for the games against Italy and Germany later this month and despite both making a decent start to the season, the wingers haven’t managed to break back into the side.
Gareth Southgate has named a 28-man squad for our #ThreeLions' upcoming games against Italy and Germany:
Rashford has three goals and two assists in six appearancesand Sancho two goals in seven, with the pair clearly starting to develop a strong relationship in combining for a number of these contributions.
Nevertheless, while it was confirmed that Rashford did not travel with the United squad for tonight’s match against Sheriff Tiraspol after picking up a ‘muscle injury‘, it seems Sancho’s early performances haven’t quite been enough to warrant a place just yet.
The 24-year-old informed fans on Twitter, wishing luck to his United and England colleagues.
In regards to @England every player wants to represent there country and I’m no different! Unfortunately I’m not ready yet as I’ve picked up an untimely injury. 🏴
The pair were omitted from Southgate’s last squad back in May and Rashford has been in and out of the national team for some time given numerous injury problems.
Southgate remarked that his latest fitness issue obviously confirmed decision but did hint that he could return to the fold in time for the World Cup.
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🗣 Gareth Southgate: “Marcus Rashford has shown some encouraging signs recently. He is a player we know well so if he can perform at a high level in the next few weeks, he of course will be under consideration [to go to the World Cup].” [@England]
Meanwhile, teammates Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw remain in the team and Dean Henderson (currently loaned out to Nottingham Forest) will be looking to challenge for the number one spot.
Over the other half of Manchester, five city players find themselves in the team, including Stockport’s own Phil Foden. Brentford’s Ivan Toney has also got his first senior call-up following an impressive start to this year’s campaign.
The England squad in full:
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson, Nick Pope, Aaron Ramsdale.
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Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ben Chilwell, Conor Coady, Eric Dier, Marc Guehi, Reece James, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Fikayo Tomori, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker.
It seems fairly likely that the pair will return to the squad should the pair stay fit and United‘s form stabilise, with the players still yet to fully find their feet despite four wins on the bounce in the league.
Erik ten Hag’s team didn’t look at the races in their Europa League opener against Real Sociedad last week but they will certainly be hoping to put on a better display against Moldovan side this evening.
Manchester United in talks with Disney over ‘multi-million-dollar documentaries’ deal
Danny Jones
Manchester United are said to be in talks with Disney over a potential deal to create a number of “multi-million-dollar documentaries”.
Just a week or so after the first trailer for their upcoming 99 series on Amazon Prime Video, which will follow their iconic treble-winning campaign – and only a couple weeks after Manchester City dropped their own over on Netflix – it looks like we’re getting more Manchester football media.
As per the report by The Athletic‘s Adam Crafton, the discussion between the footballing icons and entertainment giants centres around the proposal to make multiple documentaries about the club, with a specific focus on Sir Alex Ferguson and the legacy he left behind.
With Disney+ now the third biggest streaming service available, boasting more than 150 million subscribers according to the most recent estimates, and Man United still one of the most instantly recognisable brands on the planet, it goes without saying that the viewing figures would be huge.
NEW: Manchester United in multi-million dollar negotiations with @Disney over a deal to make documentaries. Initially with a view to create content about Sir Alex Ferguson’s era of success, including fresh extensive interview access to club’s former coach. https://t.co/VfKOlDdpH0
Man United and Disney are reportedly exploring a collaboration for multiple documentaries.
The article goes on to detail how the prospective documentaries would also ideally involve “substantial interview time with Ferguson”, the now 82-year-old former manager and footballing legend who won a total of 38 trophies in 26 years as the Man United boss.
Disney would reportedly also be given access to the club’s wealth of archive footage along with key ambassadors and figures from their rich sporting heritage, including former captain Bryan Robson, goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel and more.
We’d be surprised if you didn’t see plenty of David Beckham, Gary Neville and other Class of ’92 members involved as well, sitting as arguably the most iconic and foremost serial winners in their history.
As the plans are still in their infancy, Ferguson and his former players would need to formally agree to be part of the documentaries and United would have their say over final edits.
It is said that the current deal on the table is “in the low seven figures” and is actually lower than the terms originally offered to the club when the idea was first floated a couple of years ago.
There is still no indication as to how many projects could be in the pipeline or when we might see the first released if/when a deal is agreed upon.
As for out on the pitch itself, it’s been a turbulent season for the Red Devils, to say the least, but they have still managed to secure a place in the FA Cup final for the second year running following a game they made difficult for themselves against Coventry City.
Set to be just the second Manchester derby final in history, kick-off has once again been moved to an earlier start time to aid with travel issues and potential crowd problems.
FA Cup final confirmed for 3pm kick-off time as Metropolitan Police stress safety for fans
Danny Jones
The start time for the 2023/24 FA Cup final has officially been confirmed with holders Manchester City and challengers Manchester United set to kick off at 3pm on Saturday, 25 May.
It’s a Manc final for the second year running and yet another Manchester Derby this year as City beat Chelsea on penalties to try and defend one of their trophies from last season and Man United did just about enough to scrape through against Coventry City this past weekend.
Logistics and travel arrangements for the conclusion of last year’s FA Cup proved problematic, with the Metropolitan Police stressing that they needed the schedule brought forward to try and help curb crowd trouble – the first time the final had been reverted back to a traditional 3pm start since 2011.
Kick-off times for the knockout tournament have varied for the last three finals, having taken place at 4:45 and 5:15pm in the two years prior to 2023’s first-ever all-Manchester final, but it looks as though the same rationale has been put in place once again.
The kick-off time for the FA Cup final has been confirmed for 3pm.
As per an official statement by the FA, the final has now been officially confirmed as 3pm BST which has been agreed with local authorities, members of the Safety Advisory Group and broadcasters, as well as with the clubs who must take the time needed for fans to travel to and from Wembley into consideration.
While pockets of fighting broke out before and after the game last year, it was deemed that this time would still be the best kick-off time for all parties involved and there will, of course, be an increased police presence in London for the game next month.
Although prioritising safety comes as welcome news, it’ll no doubt prove to be a blow to broadcasters who prefer later kick-offs when eyeing up peak audience numbers; the game is also set to clash with ITV’s coverage of the rugby as the Investec Champions Cup final is also due to start at 2:45pm.
With last season’s historic FA Cup final being the first time the two sides had met in the final in the entire history of the oldest competition in all of football, it rounded off a massive year of viewing figures for the tournament which has continued to hit record numbers in 2024.
The game will once again be shown live on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and ITV1; ITVX, UTV, as well as STV, and there will no doubt be huge screenings of the game all over Greater Manchester, where an increased police presence is also expected.
Danny Jones -
15th September 2022 
