Southgate to drop Rooney for England’s clash with Slovenia

Gareth Southgate: Keeps an eye on Wayne Rooney

Gareth Southgate: Keeps an eye on Wayne Rooney

England captain Wayne Rooney trained as normal on Monday morning amid speculation he is to be dropped for the World Cup qualifier in Slovenia on Tuesday night.

The 30-year-old was jeered by small sections of the Wembley crowd in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Malta following a perceived drop in form and it is understood the player feels ‘shocked and upset’ by the booing.

Our Monday Verdict used stats to illustrate the player’s decline and called for player to call time on his international career with immediate effect.

Rooney, who operated in a deep midfield role once again, has already been dropped by club side Manchester United in recent weeks and could now be sidelined by interim England boss Gareth Southgate in Ljubljana.

England’s all-time leading goalscorer has operated purely in a midfield capacity for his country in his last outings under Roy Hodgson, Sam Allardyce and now Southgate, with the latter pair retaining Rooney as their captain.

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He laughed and joked with the rest of the squad as they trained at Tottenham’s Enfield training base ahead of Monday’s flight to Slovenia, throwing himself into challenges in a warm-up routine.

Arsenal defender Kieran Gibbs and Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford also trained following their recent call-ups and there were no absentees from the session.

But all eyes were on Rooney after other England players professed to shock at the fact he was jeered by home fans in the win over Malta.

There were a smattering of boos when his name was read out ahead of kick-off and his afternoon was book-ended by jeers as a wild shot in the closing stages was greeted by audible derision around Wembley.

 

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Questions remain over his long-term future for club and country after United boss Jose Mourinho dropped his skipper to the bench after a 3-1 EFL Cup win at Northampton.

The Red Devils have since won two of their three fixtures with Rooney out of the team, including an impressive 4-1 victory over reigning Premier League champions Leicester.

Now he could find himself out of the national side with reports Southgate will instead hand the armband to either Gary Cahill or Jordan Henderson against Slovenia.

 

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Rooney has won 117 caps, a record for an outfield player, and announced ahead of Allardyce’s one and only game at the helm against Slovakia last month that he intends to retire from the international stage after the World Cup in Russia in two years’ time.