Wyne Rooney May Likely Be Called To Play For England Match Against Scotland.

He has played 118 times for his country, netted a record 53 international goals, and just a few days ago was involved in all three goals as Manchester United secured a much-needed victory. In that context, it would seem Wayne Rooney should be an automatic pick for England in Friday’s World Cup qualifying derby with Scotland.

But the Rooney situation continues to be much discussed this season as the United and England captain comes to terms with a new reality in his career for both club and country, and interim coach Gareth Southgate should think twice about recalling the man he left out of the trip to Slovenia in October.
Since being dropped by Jose Mourinho in mid-September Rooney has started just three of 10 United fixtures, with two of those coming against Fenerbahce in the Europa League. Only when fresh legs were increasingly hard to come by in the Old Trafford ranks did he get the nod to return for the real stuff against Swansea on Sunday, and even then he delivered a far from complete performance.

While he did link up well with Zlatan Ibrahimovic in attack, he still found himself regularly dispossessed too easily as his first touch deserted him just as noticeably as it has done over a period of some months. As a one-off display, it was praiseworthy. But it was only a snapshot of form at a time when anyone hoping for England selection should be instead delivering an extensive portfolio.
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The national skipper is now just seven caps shy of Peter Shilton’s record mark, but when Southgate chooses between the five forwards at his disposal, it will be his job to look beyond the romance, to look beyond the history and see Rooney for what he is right now. Yes, last week he was a vital part of a winning team in the Premier League, but the wider picture at this moment is that this is a 31-year-old striker who has not delivered anything like his best football for well over a year.


Even when breaking Sir Bobby Charlton’s record for total England goals, Rooney was beginning to fade as a force. It is perhaps not since the Three Lions’ 3-1 victory over Scotland in the last ‘Battle of Britain’ two years ago that Rooney delivered a truly stirring performance at national level, and that in a friendly.
Of course, Southgate only needs to get two positive performances out of Rooney to justify his selection in this current squad. After the Scotland clash comes a friendly fixture with Spain at Wembley on Tuesday, and in theory the temporary boss could pass the baton to another man with a couple of passable displays from Rooney helping to make the transition a smooth one.
But will that actually help anybody when it is clear that the player is on a downward spiral which will take more than a couple of slight upturns to reverse? Rooney has already stated that this World Cup campaign will be his last, but that doesn’t mean he has a divine right to regular selection between now and 2018. He must give a compelling argument for his inclusion, and Southgate must not be fooled by Rooney’s Swansea showing that this is a player who has more to offer than the likes of Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy or Marcus Rashford, and maybe even Daniel Sturridge.


England have more to offer than Rooney, and it would do nobody any favours to send him out there in the vain hope of him delivering the kind of masterclass for which he was famed during his late-teens and early 20s. That Rooney exists no more.

When Peter Taylor had a single game in charge of England in 2000 following Kevin Keegan’s resignation, he showed the way for Sven-Goran Eriksson by overlooking tired old faces and going headlong into the future with younger, fresher talent. And if Southgate is to perform the same service for his eventual successor, then Rooney’s name must not be in the starting XI when England meet Scotland on Friday.