Marcus Rashford breaks his silence with eight-word message after receiving first England call-up in a year

Marcus Rashford has broken his silence after being called up to the England squad for the first time in a year by Thomas Tuchel.

The Aston Villa forward, who is on loan from Manchester United, was named in Tuchel's squad on Friday for World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia.

It has been a year since Rashford's last call-up to the squad, with his last Three Lions appearance coming in a friendly against Brazil in March 2024.

He has registered four assists in nine appearances for Villa since joining on loan in January, which was enough to propel him back into the England reckoning.

Rashford's international career looked in doubt while he was effectively exiled from the United matchday squad between December and February, but he has looked rejuvenated in the Midlands.

And two days after helping Villa to reach the Champions League quarter-finals with a 5-1 aggregate win over Club Brugge, the 27-year-old now finds himself preparing to wear the Three Lions shirt once again.

Taking to Instagram to react to his call-up, Rashford simply wrote: "Never stop believing. Can't wait to get started."

In a media conference explaining his selections, Tuchel praised Rashford and explained why it was a simple decision to bring him back into the England squad.

"With Marcus, it's already a familiar face back in the team," he said. "I feel that Marcus has had a huge impact on Aston Villa.

"He made a huge impact, mostly from the bench lately, he got two starts in the Champions League. The impact was impressive, the physical impact, and most importantly the impact against the ball. His work rate, his defensive impact, his hard work in counter pressing, tracking back on his position, was impressive.

"I had a strong feeling that we should nominate him, we should bring him in, to push him to stay on that level and to not fall back in old routines.

"He was very impressive, and this camp is to bond with him, get to know him, and to push him to stay on that exact level."