Southgate explains why he left Rooney out of squad
England manager chose to leave Rooney out of his 25-man squad for the World Cup qualifier against Scotland.
Gareth Southgate has r evealed t hat Wayne Rooney didn’t do enough to earn his place back in the England squad despite being fit and available for selection.
Manager Southgate chose to leave skipper Rooney out of his 25-man squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifier with Scotland and subsequent friendly match with France, which appears to end his his Three Lions career.
Rooney missed out on the last international squad – for the double header with Germany and then Lithuania in March - through through injury and Southgate confirmed that the performances of others mean there isn’t room for him to return to the squad.
“We have a lot of players playing exceptionally well in the area of the pitch that Wayne plays,” he told the FA’s official website. “I said last time [in March] that he was a bit short of matches – he’s had some matches now but we’ve got players that have done really, really well for us in Adam Lallana and Dele Alli.
“We’ve got Marcus Rashford, Harry Kane coming back and Jermain Defoe who did really well for us last time while Jamie Vardy’s been in excellent form in the second half of the season.
“I can’t dress it up any other way. Other players are in really good form and deserve to keep their place.”
Despite the move appearing to end Rooney’s 119-cap international career Southgate refused to rule out selecting him again.
“I’ve showed that, by selecting Jermain Defoe at 34, if players are playing well and the moment’s right then we will involve them in the squad.
“You never write off a player of Wayne’s quality and I’m sure that, next season, he’ll be back to playing. He’s finished the season a bit better and I’m sure he’ll take that into next year. THE INDEPENDENT