Manchester United

Good afternoon if you’re just joining us by the way! Lovely to have you with us.

The big talking point for Wednesday is Marcus Rashford’s comments that he is “ready for a new challenge” after being asked about his future Old Trafford.

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim spoke to the media this morning.

Here are the key lines about Rashford from his news conference:

• He has not had the chance to speak to Marcus Rashford about his comments, after giving the players a day off on Tuesday.
• Amorim said there is no concern over whether the situation will have an impact on the wider squad: "They are more simple than that. Everyone focuses on their job. I was a player and we are a little bit selfish, so [I think] they will be focused on their job to win a place in this team. So I don't think it will even impact the team."
• He is "of course" happy for the forward to remain at Old Trafford: "This kind of club needs big talents - and he is a big talent. We just need to perform at the highest level and that is my focus. I just want to help him."
• Rashford is "right" in saying that he is ready for "a new challenge" because there is currently a "difficult situation" at the club.

Manchester United

Marcus Rashford has hit over the magic number of 20 goals in a season three times, with his most consistent back-to-back seasons being in 2019-20 and 2020-21 when he scored 22 and 21 goals.

After a disappointing 2021-22, the 27-year-old hit his best numbers the following season (30), but has since fallen off dramatically.

Stats from Opta.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The clock is ticking towards 1pm and that means a couple of Premier League managers are getting ready to sit down and chat to the media.

It’s Carabao Cup action for Ange Postecoglou as Tottenham are preparing for a home quarter-final tie with Manchester United tomorrow.

Over at Chelsea, Enzo Maresca will be looking ahead to his side’s Uefa Conference League match with Shamrock Rovers, also on Thursday night. The majority of the questions put to Maresca today, however, may centre around Mykhailo Mudryk, after the winger tested positive for a banned substance.

Ellen White
Former England striker on the Football Daily podcast

You have three games to qualify for the knock out rounds and you can't waste time in the group stages really. I think, if I'm being honest, I would have preferred for England to face Wales first, because Wales are going to go into that tournament having a lot of nervous energy I would presume, First major tournament, first Euros, there's a lot of pressure to perform, a lot of excitement.

England, we've got a lot of players that have a lot of tournament experience and I think that they would be quite calm under that pressure and I think that would have been a good time to maybe play them.

It could be a difficult group for the Lionesses, but at least they managed to avoid World Cup winners Spain and eight-time European champions Germany.

"The draw was nice. The group is tough! These are the facts and we knew how the pots were that it would be difficult anyway," said England manager Sarina Wiegman.

"The women's game is developing so quickly so I don't think there are easy things any more.

"We have to be ready for every single game. The women's game has changed. Before we went to the qualifiers for the World Cup, it was kind of easy.

"Sometimes you could predict if you were going to win. In sport it's really good when it's unpredictable because that's the exciting bit about it."

BBC Sounds

Wales manager Rhian Wilkinson speaking about the Women's Euro 2025 draw on the Football Daily podcast: "I had a huge smile on my face, I really enjoyed it. We talked about it early on, that is the goal - to qualify for the major tournaments, to pit ourselves against the top teams in the world. There was never going to be an easy group, there's definitely a harder group and we're in it but it was always going to be challenges for us and we look forward to testing ourselves against them."

Image source, Getty Images

The 16-team European Championship takes place across eight venues in Switzerland from 2-27 July.

Prize money has more than doubled for the tournament, with the total pot now standing at £34m (41m euros), a 156% increase from Euro 2022.

Group A: Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Finland.

Group B: Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy.

Group C: Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden.

Group D: France, England, Wales, Netherlands.

Ellen White
Former England striker on the Football Daily podcast

I kind of thought that it was written in the stars that England Wales would be in the same group, We've made it a little challenging for ourselves, being runners-up in our group for qualification, which meant we would face Spain, Germany or France. France are a bit of a dodgy team, we're kind of up or down when we face them, Netherlands is an interesting one, I saw Sarina say that's a fact that they're in our group and that was kind of it - That sounds interesting so I don't know how she feels about that one. It's a really challenging group but I'm really excited at the same time.

Defending champions England and debutants Wales have been drawn in the same group for Euro 2025 in Switzerland, with France and the Netherlands joining them.

The Lionesses were in pot two for the draw so were always going to face either hosts Switzerland or one of the other top teams. They avoided being in the same group as 2023 World Cup winners Spain or eight-time Euros winners Germany but still face a tough assignment before the knockout stage.

England and Wales will meet in the final round of Group D fixtures on Sunday, 13 July in St Gallen.

Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses are ranked fourth in the world, Wales are 30th, the Netherlands are 10th and France are 11th.

The draw means Wiegman must face her native Netherlands, who she led to victory at Euro 2017 and a runner-up finish at the 2019 World Cup.

We’ll continue to discuss Marcus Rashford’s future at Manchester United but let’s also take at look at the draw for Women’s Euros next year that took place in Lausanne, Switzerland yesterday.

Keep your thoughts coming in, folks. Usual channels: #bbcfootball, via WhatsApp on 03301231826 or text 81111 (UK only, standard message rates apply).

Mark - you’re up next with a Rashford message that mentions Benni McCarthy, Charlie Austin and Roque Santa Cruz…

Manchester United

That’s an interesting point by Ade in Rochester. If we go back to the piece Marcus Rashford wrote in February for The Player’s Tribune, he addresses a similar situation in regards to his high-profile child food poverty campaign which prompted a government U-turn in 2020.

Rashford believes there is a "tone which other footballers don't get" in some of the media coverage about him.

"It seems like they've been waiting for me to have a human moment so they can point the finger and say, 'See? See who he really is?'" Rashford wrote.

"Listen, I'm not a perfect person. When I make a mistake, I'll be the first one to put my hand up and say that I need to do better."