ROONEY: I AM NOT GIVING UP

United st ar determined to play for England again despite captaincy snub

WAYNE ROONEY is determined to fight his way back into the England team and has dismissed the idea that he would quit and seek a tribute match to mark his international retirement.

Rooney is expected to be back in full training at Manchester United this week and, according to sources close to the player, is focused on regaining his England place after missing out on Gareth Southgate’s first squad and losing the captaincy. And Southgate himself has insisted that the door is still open for him to return in the summer.

After Wednesday’s clash with Germany, which turned into a tribute for Germany’s Lukas Podolski, who is quitting international football, Southgate declined to say whether Rooney deserved something similar.

But he yesterday re-affirmed his view that a fit Rooney could return. ‘He’s absolutely in my thinking,’ said Southgate. ‘I didn’t understand why we were talking about tributes when he still has every chance of being in this team. There’s no reason why he’s finished with us.’

Rooney is said to agree with that sentiment, not wanting to talk about a tribute game which would imply his England career was over. Clearly if he moves to China, that might change Southgate’s thinking, but for now the assumption is that Rooney will continue until Russia 2018. And Southgate insisted the fact that Rooney had not at t ended a s quad meeting on Monday, to which players not in t he s quad but e expected to play a p part in the future were i nvited, was not an issue.

‘ We had nine players and Harry Kane and Danny Rose and others had to have treatment and Wayne the same,’ said Southgate. ‘It was no problem. The more important thing for me was those guys felt they’d been invited.’

Joe Hart will captain England in today’s World Cup qualifier against Lithuania at Wembley and before the game there will be a minute’s silence for the victims of last week’s terror attack in London.