Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed that he has spoken to national team manager Gareth Southgate about Mason Greenwood’s omission from the England squad.
Greenwood, who celebrated his 19th birthday yesterday, will play no part in the Three Lions’ upcoming matches against Wales, Belgium and Denmark, after being sent home from Iceland during last month's international break.
In his Friday pre-match press conference, before our Premier League match with Tottenham on Sunday, the boss was asked whether Greenwood had been punished enough.
“I respect Gareth’s decision,”said Ole. “I had a very nice chat with Gareth about our players, the England possibles.
“As I said earlier on, I think games, at this point, are important for players to get some minutes. But we will get plenty of training minutes into Mason.”
The Academy graduate opened his United account for 2020/21 in the 3-0 win over Luton Town last week, and had a goal ruled out for offside in the dramatic 3-2 victory over Brighton in our most recent Premier League fixture.
And, despite the scrutiny surrounding the teenager at the moment, Solskjaer feels he will ultimately benefit from this challenging period.
“You know… Mason is one of the top strikers of the future for England and I am sure he’s going to play many games for England,”he continued.
“This has been a learning curve for him. He has to reflect on where he’s at, what he needs to do and how he to can get to where he wants to get.”
England’s squad for their upcoming friendly and Nations League fixtures was announced yesterday (Thursday 1 October), and included three United players: Dean Henderson, Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford.