Man Utd already have a big money England player

If you are a Manchester United fan then England's World Cup campaign is going to be a lot of fun.

While fans will be looking at Elliot Anderson and dreaming of signing him ahead of Manchester City, they will also be interested in how Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo fare.

No Harry Maguire, but maybe Thomas Tuchel would have done with him in their first team game against Croatia.

In defense they were nervous and cagey. However, in attack, the Three Lions looked as good as ever. Long gone are the days of Gareth Southgate's pragmatic football. This was exciting, it was bold, it was new.

Tuchel's men came out on top 4-2 with a few important headlines already emerging.

Negatives in England

Speaking at the end of the match, Tuchel talked about the number of duels his team won in any half.

In the first 45 minutes they won only 30% of their duels. In the second it increased to 70%. Whatever Germany said at the break they did a good job.

That performance after the break was very exciting and it was great to watch England play with such ease. That said, there were problems.

In that first half they didn't get their machine right. They didn't win enough duels and they were all at sea defensively. John Stones' lack of sharpness was exposed in the first goal when he got down easily and Jordan Pickford would not have been happy to see Martin Baturina's shot explode from his hand. Ezri Konsa was also intercepted by passing the ball to Ivan Perisic who scored Petar Musa's goal.

They were also a little lacking in the stomach. Declan Rice was clearly not fit, having been withdrawn in the second half, something Tuchel admitted after the game he would never do.

As for Anderson, he also struggled at the start of the World Cup. Is this a £120m player? That's the price Manchester City will spend to sign the midfielder.

In this testimony, it was a lesson that you are still young, you are still green. That money is worth it based on his Premier League performances but playing at the level of England on Wednesday night, showed that he still has things to work on. Alongside Rice, both struggled to control the game.

Good for England

An attack. What a forward performance this is. Four goals against a non-cup team.

Harry Kane scored twice, including a fine header from a Rice corner. Set-pieces are all wide now, didn't you know?

What will be of great interest to Tuchel is the performance of those behind Kane, perhaps Anthony Gordon on the sidelines. He had just nine appearances in the first half and it was no surprise to see Marcus Rashford take his place. More on him in a moment.

Noni Madueke's inclusion in the squad caused a stir but as Bukayo Saka struggles to show his fitness, he looks like an uneducated person.

Of course, the final product of the Arsenal winger is somewhat lacking, but he caused Croatia all kinds of problems, won a penalty in the first half and played a key role in the creation of Jude Bellingham's goal.

Bellingham has had his critics wearing an England shirt recently but played for the Croats. He was all over the place, not only scoring goals but his work rate was off the charts.

The performance of the subs, Rashford and Saka was impressive. While Madueke impressed, the level of quality his Arsenal counterpart possesses was evident when he came on.

England's number 7 was a surprise when the fourth goal was scored. He turned his man on the right wing and after a bit of luck, the ball broke to him in the Croatian half. He then played a great ball into the path of Rashford who cut inside and found the net.

For Rashford, this has been quite the season. Perhaps United already have a £100m player on their books? He made a bigger impact than Anderson on Wednesday, that's for sure. He made a bigger impact than Gordon himself, a player who was recently sold for £70m to Barcelona. The fact that the Spanish giants didn't want to cough up such a small fee for their English counterpart beggars belief.

This summer, it seems inevitable that the Carrington academy graduate will leave Old Trafford and he could do so for a paltry £26m. Barca was on loan last season and shone en route to winning LaLiga, scoring 14 goals and providing 14 assists in 49 outings.

That was the state of the player who won the big money. He has revealed himself to be the richest player in the past. Not long ago he scored 30 goals in one campaign for the Red Devils.

Direct, lively, aggressive and most importantly, healthy, this World Cup is set to show why United should not be in the business of selling a budding talent. This week, he was the one who looked like a big-money star, like a player playing on the international stage. Anderson, by comparison, looked nervous and shaky.

A few years ago he was reportedly valued at £100m by the club. Times have changed but he seems to be getting back to that ball again.