Euro 2016: England name youngest squad for 58 years as Marcus Rashford makes them the youngest team in france

England will head to France with the youngest squad as well as the youngest player

Marcus Rashford will be the youngest player at Euro 2016 (Getty)

England will head to the Euro 2016 Championship with the youngest squad of any team after Roy Hodgson confirmed the 23 players he will take to France, in what will be the youngest Three Lions side for 58 years.

The addition of 18-year-old Marcus Rashford not only capped a remarkable three-month rise from Manchester United youth player to England international, but brought the average age of the squad below 26 years old when the tournament gets underway on 10 June.

Rashford will be the youngest player at the Euros at 18 years and 214 days, with the next youngest player being Bayern Munich’s new Portuguese signing Renato Sanches, who is two months older than the Manchester United striker.

In total, seven of Hodgson’s 23-man squad will be under the age of 23 in Rashford, Dele Alli [20], Raheem Sterling [21], John Stones, Eric Dier, Ross Barkley and Harry Kane [all 22].

While Hodgson can boast a youthful and exciting squad, it does raise questions of where the experience will come from. Wayne Rooney and Gary Cahill will offer knowledge of dealing with expectation at a major tournament, but given this is Hodgson’s third tournament and second major competition in which he has overseen the full qualifying process, it suggests that the development process has not gone as would have been hoped over his four-year reign.

The England squad will be the nation’s youngest to head to a major tournament since the 1958 World Cup, although it may not be such a bad thing given that reigning world champions Germany are the next youngest squad with their average just a few days older.

In stark contrast, the Republic of Ireland will head to France with the oldest squad, with the likes of striker Robbie Keane and captain John O’Shea, both 35, bumping up their squad average age to 29 years and 297 days.

However, the oldest player in this year’s tournament hails from Hungary, with former Crystal Palace, Burnley and Fulham goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly poised to become the oldest ever player in European Championship history if he plays. The 40-year-old could break the current record held by Germany’s Lothar Matthaus, who appeared in Euro 2000 at the age of 39, although Kiraly last featured in an international tournament at the 1986 World Cup – also in France.