Mourinho on Rashford's England role

Jose Mourinho is more than happy with Marcus Rashford's progression with England and hailed his status as the number two striker to Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Manchester United's no.9 role.

The Reds boss was asked about Rashford's switch from the England senior squad to the Under-21s group following his impressive, albeit fleeting, exploits for the Three Lions at Euro 2016.

Mourinho is not concerned at all and believes it's more important for the teenager's development that he plays matches for the U21s rather than possibly sit on the bench for Sam Allardyce's national side.

"The situation with England is funny because when you are 18 years old and are in the Under-21 national team, I don't think it's a drama," Mourinho explained in an exclusive interview with MUTV.

"I think he's fantastic, I think he's very good. But to be honest, for his development, I think it's better to be in the Under-21s and play two international matches than go to Slovakia with the first team and sit watching Harry Kane and [Jamie] Vardy and those experienced players that Sam is going to select. So I think it's very good for him at the age of 18 to play in the Under-21 national team.

"To be, at this moment, Manchester United's second striker [in the no.9 position] – not the third or fourth or fifth – behind one of the top players in the world, who he can learn so much from, I think his situation is very good."

Watch the full interview with Jose, including his views on transfers, on Countdown To Kick-Off at 18:30 BST on Friday (repeated at 21:30 BST) on MUTV, plus exclusive interviews with Wayne Rooney, Eric Bailly and Antonio Valencia.