United's Rashford among Hodgson's England pick

Uncapped 18-year-old forward Marcus Rashford is the surprise choice in England manager Roy Hodgson's provisional 26-strong squad for UEFA EURO 2016.

Manchester United's Rashford only made his senior club debut in February, scoring twice in a 5-1 UEFA Europa League defeat of Midtjylland, and has added five more to that tally.  "He's one of the contenders," said Hodgson, who will announce his final squad by 30 May but has already chosen to leave out Leighton Baines, Michael Carrick and Phil Jagielka.

"The competition for [Rashford] is quite strong, he'll understand that as well, but he deserves to be selected in the larger squad. I'm pleased that someone that has had such an outstanding end to the season, a young player who has a future if he can continue to develop, has a chance to be included."

• All you need to know about the England national team

One player not involved is Daniel Welbeck after the Arsenal forward was ruled out due to a knee injury last week. "The type of player he is, the options he gives us with his play, when he got injured we missed that and will miss him," said Hodgson, who has included Jack Wilshere and Jordan Henderson after their own injury recoveries.

Preparations
England's next friendly will be Hodgson's 50th game in charge against Turkey at the City of Manchester Stadium on Sunday, when they will be without Manchester United's Rashford, Chris Smalling and Wayne Rooney as they will face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final the day before. Hodgson may also rest Liverpool's Henderson, Adam Lallana, James Milner and Daniel Sturridge as they will have been involved in Wednesday's UEFA Europa League final.

Hodgson's side then take on Australia in Sunderland on 27 May, before the squad is cut to the final 23. England end their preparations against Portugal at Wembley on 2 June.

England provisional squad for UEFA EURO 2016
Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster (Southampton), Joe Hart (Manchester City), Tom Heaton (Burnley).

Defenders: Ryan Bertrand (Southampton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Nathaniel Clyne (Liverpool), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), Chris Smalling (Manchester United), John Stones (Everton), Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur).

Midfielders: Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur), Ross Barkley (Everton), Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Danny Drinkwater (Leicester City), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Liverpool), James Milner (Liverpool), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Andros Townsend (Newcastle United), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal).

Forwards: Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Jamie Vardy (Leicester City).
 

England's Group B fixtures
11/06: England v Russia (Marseille)
16/06: England v Wales (Lens)
20/06: Slovakia v England (St-Etienne)