Former England manager Roy Hodgson has insisted that Wayne Rooney still has a big role to play for the national team.
The 31-year-old is captain of club and country, but has lost his place in both the Manchester United and England teams in recent months following a dip in form.
However, new England boss Gareth Southgate appeared to confirm that Rooney would retain the captaincy heading into 2017, and Hodgson believes that it is the right decision.
"I found Wayne a good captain. He was well liked and well respected by the players. He took the job very seriously, he worked at it, he learned from Steven Gerrard, took everything that Steve had brought on board and really did work hard to be the captain that we wanted him to be. I think he succeeded well in that," he told Sky Sports News.
"Of course he's lost his place in the Man United team and when players lose their place in their club team it becomes harder for the national coach to pick them. But I would like to believe he has a role to play in a squad of 22/23 players, whether he actually starts the game or not.
"[Southgate and his coaching staff] must decide, if he is not going to start games, is he going to be content with a bit-part role and, if he's not even going to get a large number of minutes as a substitute, is he going to be the type of guy that they want around them to help with the players. If it was up to me I wouldn't have hesitated to keep him on."
Rooney is just six caps short of Peter Shilton's all-time appearance record for England.
Barney Corkhill
