A young, inexperienced squad lead by an equally young and inexperienced manager, Wayne Rooney’s retirement has prematurely pushed the England national team into a new era, one where they will have to fend for themselves in the absence of natural leaders and flagship stars.
Thrust into a cruel, sceptical world in which every performance is publicly dissected until every misgiving comes to light under the analytical microscope, how big a loss the now-Everton forward actually is to the Three Lions will only become truly evident over the coming qualifiers and at the World Cup in Russia next summer.
Make no mistake, Rooney clearly isn’t the domineering goalscoring force he once was, despite an incredibly bright start to his second spell at Everton. Tellingly of his decline and how insignificant he’d become at Manchester United, Gareth Southgate was the first England manager in over a decade not to select an available, largely fit Rooney for a Three Lions squad in May. In fact, for much of his international career, Rooney was riskily selected even amid fitness concerns because of how instrumental he was to results.
Just as a few early goals for Everton shouldn’t completely change the opinions of those who claimed Rooney had long-past his sell-by date at the end of last season, Southgate should stand firm in his beliefs from the start of the summer, when he clearly felt the international career of England’s all-time goalscorer was limping towards its inevitable end.
With a World Cup on the horizon, however, and Rooney already showing signs of revival since returning to his spiritual home, the question is whether Southgate’s scrapped a potentially vital England resource one year too soon. They often say you become a better player when you’re not in the team; that could well be the case with Rooney as England face the challenge of filling his void.
Whether Rooney would actually make England’s strongest XI remains a matter of debate, even amid the form he has enjoyed for Everton at the start of 2017/18. Harry Kane and Dele Alli are surely the fulcrum of England’s attacking game-plan, in a bid to replicate their potent partnership at Tottenham, and most Three Lions fans want to see young players like Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling and Ross Barkley given chances in offensive roles as well.
And yet, it’s hard to think of a better squad player at international level than someone who has worn the armband for over two years, who has amassed 119 caps in total, who is a record goalscorer for club and country and whose versatility is so vast it’s often viewed as one of the major reasons the world-class levels reached in his younger years weren’t sustained over his whole career.
Whether he’s brought on in midfield to provide creative and scoring threat from deep against a team like Malta, or introduced into the forward line to help see out positive results against teams of France’s or Germany’s calibre (as he did to great effect for Manchester United in the Europa League last season), there aren’t many situations where Rooney’s holistic skillset wouldn’t be tactically beneficial to Southgate.
But Rooney’s influence stems far deeper than simply matters on the pitch. Just seven members of Southgate’s latest England squad boast more than 30 caps, just 16 plied their trade for a top six club last season and just six are aged over 27, two of which are goalkeepers. In short, the current England cohort is vastly depleted of international experience, proven leaders and pedigree, three areas Rooney would readdress the pejorative balance of almost single-handed. Even if he’s not getting on the pitch, Lukas Podolski’s role in Germany’s 2014 World Cup win shows the positive impact those figures of longevity can have on the rest of the team regardless of how many minutes they receive.
Of course, Rooney served as captain at Euro 2016 last summer, when England endured one of the most humiliating defeats in their history at the hands of Iceland. His leadership qualities certainly weren’t on show then as the Three Lions spectacularly capitulated under the pressure of elimination by international minnows.
Yet, placing all the problems on the doorstep of the most talented player is a recurring shortcoming of England criticism; we always vilify those who can offer us the most, rather than questioning why they’ve struggled to do so. In any case, the Three Lions certainly aren’t going to be any stronger by casting aside their most proven, talented and experienced players, which makes you wonder if England can have any hope of faring better in Russia next summer in the absence of the greatest player from the last generation. Likewise, with Rooney no longer the lightening rod, it’s now players like Kane and Alli who will have to bear the brunt of criticism when England don’t perform.
Rooney has taken it upon himself to step away from the international scene, in fact most sources suggest Southgate wanted to include him in the latest squad, but that’s once again a consequence of a common England flaw.
Form clearly affected Southgate’s decision-making when he left Rooney out in June and although it was arguably justified considering how marginal a figure he’d become at Old Trafford, that omission has almost certainly influenced the forward’s decision to retire at the age of 31. Longer-term thinking, better man-management and stronger faith in a proven player, even if it had lead to criticism from the public, would have at least left the ball in Southgate’s court for these qualifiers and the coming World Cup, rather than Rooney’s.
Southgate’s England career to date has been far from smooth sailing; three wins, three draws and two defeats from eight games, including a scoreless qualifier with Slovenia and surrendering a point to Scotland at Hampden Park. When the Three Lions face underachievement at yet another major international tournament in Russia next summer, Southgate might well wish he had a leader and a player of Rooney’s proven quality to help dig him out of a hole. A youthful, inexperienced England have just a matter of months and a handful of games together to find their way in the post-Rooney era.
