Wayne Rooney still in England manager Gareth Southgate's plans

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 26 March 2017

Gareth Southgate insists that Wayne Rooney 'is not finished with England' and is still in his plans, despite being left out of his first squad as permanent boss.

England boss Gareth Southgate has insisted that talk of Wayne Rooney bringing an end to his international career is far too premature, as the Manchester United striker is still in his plans.

Rooney was not selected in the Three Lions' latest squad for games with Germany and Lithuania this week - the first named by Southgate since being handed the managerial job on a permanent basis last year.

The former Under-21s chief was perplexed when asked after the 1-0 loss to Germany in midweek whether a testimonial would be held for the long-serving skipper, with Rooney still very much in his manager's thinking for the remainder of the World Cup 2018 campaign.

"He's absolutely [in my thinking]," he told reporters. "I didn't quite understand why we were talking about tributes when he has still got every chance of being in this team.

"I'm conscious that we'll be talking about Wayne again and I'm hoping to be talking about the players who are here, but there's no reason why he is finished with us."

Rooney has been capped 119 times for England and became the country's leading scorer in 2015 when overtaking Sir Bobby Charlton with his 50th goal.