INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY ONE LEGEND , PM THREE NEW LIONS

As Rooney bows out, he will present shirts to England debutants at Wembley tonight

Scholes as one of the greats of the modern era.

Recounting his own experiences on the field with England, Southgate said: “There have been brilliant players I played with. It doesn’t seem right to leave the Lampards, the Beckhams, the Sheringhams and the Shearers out of the list.

“But for me, Gascoigne, Scholes and Rooney were just able to do that little bit more than all of the others. “They were incredible. I played with Wayne at the beginning for him really, so for him to go on and overtake Sir Bobby Charlton’s record is incredible. It’s the different types of finishes and the different types of goals that stand out.”

But what Southgate (below) admired most was how Rooney coped with being the main man for so long.

He said: “The hardest thing in football is to cross the white line and it’s incredibly hard when you’re the person who is expected to deliver.

“Very few people in the world can appreciate what that feels like. It’s very different to run-ofthe-mill players like me who played for England.

“He was in the England team, front and centre of it, from 17. It is incredible to live your life and grow up in that spotlight and be able to cope with it and excel within it.

“For him, the biggest thing is the team didn’t quite get to where he wanted.

“But when you look at what he’s lived through and the performances he gave, the big goals he scored, the moments he had to deliver and the pressure he had to take, individually it is an incredible career.”

And if the young players listening to Rooney in that dressing-room come close to having the sort of career being celebrated this evening, then the future of the England team is, indeed, bright.