NEIL MOXLEY Roo creates a striking new role... in midfield

Follow us on Twitter: @peoplesport WAYNE ROONEY – a certain starter for England. Discuss. It is inconceivable to think t he nation’s captain is struggling to nail down a spot for the Three Lions.

But, over the coming weeks, attention will turn to the Manchester United captain and whether he deserves his place in Roy Hodgson’s team.

To my mind, there is only one answer: Of course, he does – but NOT as a frontline striker.

For years, Rooney was not so much an automatic choice as the only choice.

When stars such as Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard were on the wane, there wasn’t anyone remotely capable of finding the net with any regularity – apart from the Manchester United star.

But, all of a sudden, English football is s wamped with goals.

It is difficult to argue against the charts.

Harry Kane sits atop the Premier League and Jamie Vardy i s not far behind.

Besides scoring more often, both offer qualities that Rooney cannot these days.

Daniel Sturridge was preferred by Hodgson in Brazil. Danny Welbeck’s injury has been untimely, but he too would have been an automatic start next month.

Dele Alli’s emergence as a potential match-winner was rubber-stamped in Berlin.

So, suddenly, where there were no real successors to Rooney’s throne, English football is almost overwhelmed by them. The one weapon Hodgson has in his arsenal, next month, is goals.

So, where does that leave England’s top scorer?

The Liverpudlian is approaching 31. There are too many miles on the clock for Rooney to make runs in behind defenders in the way t hat t i t l e- winner Vardy does.

The Croxteth terrier has been racing around for most of his life now.

Fifteen years spent in the pro game, tearing up one record after another.

Kane i s able. And Sturridge has usurped Rooney in the past. And that finish in Basel was breathtaking.

As if in the space of one season, England’s talisman now has serious competition. Sadly, I don’t know the man himself well enough. But after having listened and watched him over the years, I think Wayne Rooney has read the script. He was touted as a street footballer. He’s certainly that. But he’s also street-wise. Why is it that he has dropped so willingly into midfield for Manchester United? Could it be that Rooney has seen what’s coming and acted accordingly? He has l ooked at the situation and thought: “Do you know what? I might struggle here to justify a spot up f ront f or England.” Such attempts to move him out of position in the past have not been greeted with such good grace. Even when Sir Alex Ferguson was at his most untouchable, there was always the drip, drip, drip effect of stories being leaked that the former Everton man was not happy with anything other than a central role.

This time, he’s been shifted and there’s been no hint of a murmur.

Not that he can’t play the position. He was, to use a favourite teenage phrase, “a wesome” there in midweek.

Make no mistake, the re- arranged fixture against Bournemouth was not played at full tilt.

But to see Manchester United’s skipper spraying the ball about left, right and centre made you wonder whether Paul Scholes was on the pitch wearing a Rooney mask.