Five Emerging England stars as Gareth Southgate eyes fresh faces

After Rashford hit a hat-trick on his Under-21 debut for Southgate, the manager knows his quality.

This rounded off an astonishing record of netting on Premier League, Europa League and senior England bows.

Since his rapid emergence on the scene, Rashford refuses to slow down. The 18-year-old has now scored eight in 16 Premier League games, cementing his place among the world’s rising stars.

Rashford was the only England player that came out of Euro 2016 with any credit and learly steps up on big occasions.

Goals against Arsenal, Manchester City and recently a winner at Hull City show he possesses the sort of mental toughness sometimes lacking in Three Lions displays.

His Man Utd side are a generous 14/1 with Coral to win the league outright this season.

Michael Keane (Burnley)

The powers at Old Trafford must now be kicking themselves for letting Keane slip through their fingers.

After playing just once domestically for United, Keane was loaned out to Burnley and the move became permanent in January last year.

Since then, Keane has quietly been progressing and developing into a solid defender.

Keane is another with a history of performing under Southgate, who recently gave the centre back a senior call-up.

With his clever play, he was key to Burnley’s promotion last term – a defence that had the Championship’s second-best record.

At just 23 years old, expect Keane to get even better with rumours of top clubs courting him growing. Burnley are 6/5 to stay up this season.

James Ward-Prowse: (Southampton)

Saints box-to-box midfielder Ward-Prowse is Under-21 England captain and another handed his debut at that level by Southgate.

Trrusting the 20-year-old immensely, Southgate will likely wait until he becomes a permanent starting fixture at Southampton before a senior call-up.

Ward-Prowse has 25 Under-21 caps with six goals to his name from midfield, and is now in
line for future recognition at senior international level.

Playing a big part in Saints’ best-ever Premier League finish last term, Ward-Prowse could complement Eric Dier in midfield.

Demarai Gray: Leicester City

Anyone that saw Gray’s impressive strike at Old Trafford this term knows he’s a player to watch.

The talented winger has a goal and assist in just 141 minutes of Premier League play this campaign. Recently, he impressed for the Under-21’s when netting against Kazakhstan to reach Euro 2017.

With Rashford occupying top spot and Gray supporting him on the wing, they have the makings of a deadly duo.

Gray had a goalscoring record of one in every 2.5 games when he was flourishing with Birmingham in the Championship, and will look to emulate this with the high-flying Foxes to gain an England call-up.

Related

For more football previews, tips and features, check out our dedicated page.

What do you think of the emerging England stars? Tell us in the comments below.