End of Rooney era nears for England as ex-skipper left out of squad

● Younger players ‘deserve to keep place’ says Southgate ahead of Hampden clash

Wayne Rooney has been left out of England’s squad for the World Cup qualifier against Scotland at Hampden on 10 June in a move that could well signal the end of his time with the national team.

England manager Gareth Southgate, while not closing the door entirely on a recall for the 31-year-old, has left no doubt that he is moving in a different direction, having identified a variety of better options in both the number 10 and centre forward roles for next month’s game and the subsequent friendly in France.

Southgate inherited Rooney as England captain but, in the space of just a few months, has eased him out of the starting XI, abolished his status as permanent skipper and left him out of successive get-togethers, including Thursday’s 25-man panel.

Having overlooked England’s most capped outfield player for March’s games against Germany and Lithuania citing a lack of minutes for Manchester United, Rooney’s increased game time in recent weeks left Southgate reaching for a more stark explanation for his latest omission. “We have a lot of players playing exceptionally well in the area of the pitch that Wayne plays,” Southgate said.

“I said last time 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.

“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.”

Where exactly Rooney will be making his case for a recall is open to speculation.

His introduction as a late substitute in United’s 2-0 Europa League final win on Wednesday underlines how his status has changed.

“Honestly, I’ve said before, I don’t know,” the United skipper said when asked if he would still be at the club next term, adding he had “more or less” decided what to do.