Tuesday 22 August 2017 15:05, UK
Gary Neville insists there is no reason why Wayne Rooney can't still have an important role to play for England.
Gareth Southgate names his squad on Thursday for the World Cup Qualifiers against Malta and Slovakia and Rooney says he will have a conversation with the England manager this week after scoring in both of the Premier League games he has played since joining Everton.
And Neville, who played with Rooney at Manchester United and coached him with England, says he can be a key figure if he accepts his place in the pecking order.
"Ultimately you can't be emotional about this," he told Monday Night Football. "If he's in the best four or five strikers in the country then he makes the team.
"I have no embarrassment with thinking that Wayne Rooney came into the England squad as a youngster and had to work his way into the squad.
"Why shouldn't he phase his way out of the squad? Why does it have to be all or nothing whereby players have to play or they are completely out of the squad? It doesn't have to be that way.
"For me if he is accepting of the situation that he isn't going to be number one - obviously Harry Kane will be number one, Jamie Vardy is there and you've got other players as well - he can contribute.
"I've seen that in other countries when players come out of the squad."
Rooney scored Everton's opener against Manchester City on Monday night - his 200th Premier League goal - and was named Man of the Match by Sky Sports.
And Neville says he is already proving why he will be such an important signing for Ronald Koeman.
He added: "He was excellent. Obviously his work-rate is always there. I have to say he looked free. He looked like his touch was there and his confidence was there and obviously he's scored two goals.
"I think it's as if over the last two or three years people wouldn't have been satisfied until they saw him out of the England squad and out of the Manchester United team.
"Away from that, all of a sudden, people might start to celebrate him a bit more.
"It's been a tough ride for him publically over these last few years. He referred to [in his post-match interview] a player who is 'not fit any more'.
"But actually he has a right to not be as fit as he once was with the work he has put into his career.
"That Everton team hasn't got a lot of success as a club and they haven't had a lot of inner steel in big matches; you think of their record away from home.
"Rooney is fearless when it comes to big matches, he is fearless when it comes to big moments.
"I think of the confidence he will give his team-mates, just by being there in that line-up at the start of the game: 'Don't worry lads, this is not a big game, I'm out there'.
"It will settle them down an awful lot and he will have a big impact in that dressing room."
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