Marcus Rashford sends pre-season tour message to Manchester United youngsters

Marcus Rashford has told the Manchester United youngsters set to head out on the club's pre-season this week to make the most of the experience and use it as a springboard to first-team football.

Erik ten Hag will make the decision on who heads out on tour before the club jet off to Bangkok on Friday for a series of four games in three cities.

The 16-day expedition will see United play Liverpool in Bangkok, Melbourne Victory and Crystal Palace in Melbourne and Aston Villa in Perth, but the time around the first-team squad and in training will be just as crucial, according to Rashford.

A host of Under-23 players helped make up the numbers in training last week, with the senior players involved in the June internationals only set to return this week, but some of then will be included in the tour squad.

Alvaro Fernandez, James Garner, Hannibal Mejbri, Facundo Pellistri, Alejandro Garnacho and Amad will all have a decent chance of being involved and as someone who was once in their shoes, Rashford is aware of what it means.

"I was gutted when I was 17 and I missed out on the tour because I had a back injury. Honestly, when you know that you are being involved in the first team and you have got a chance to go on the tour, it's a massive opportunity," he told MUTV.

"It's a period to be around the first team every day, training with us every day, play games with us and get minutes under your belt. And that can really trigger something for you in your career and, for me, it was mentally the steps that I took forward when I first started training and playing with the first team. It was huge.

"It is something that you can't take for granted. Hopefully, some of them get the opportunity to come with us and play some minutes. I