England’s all-time record goalscorer was handed a lifeline by national team boss Gareth Southgate yesterday.
And Everton boss Ronald Koeman was in agreement that Rooney can still return to the England fold ahead of next summer’s World Cup squad.
Koeman said: “First of all, if you play really good football and produce great performances for your club it is possible that he will come back to the national team.
“But it always starts with the club, his performances for the club and then it’s reasonable that he will go back to the national team.”
Rooney, 31, will make his second coming for Everton tonight when the Toffees take on Slovakian side MFK Ruzomberok in the Europa League third round qualifying clash.
Southgate - who axed Rooney last month - offered Rooney a big incentive ahead of his emotional Goodison homecoming by saying: “The great thing for Rooney is that he will probably be playing more regular football. So it’s as simple as that.”
Koeman has already seen enough of Rooney in three weeks of pre-season training to know the ex-Manchester United striker has rediscovered the hunger that was lacking in his final days at Old Trafford.
And while Phil Jagielka remains the official club captain, the Dutchman believes Rooney is already acting like the unofficial skipper.
He said: “Even without the captaincy he is one of the captains in the team, because that is what he used to do.
“There were no reasons to change the captain because I am really happy about Phil as the captain and with Gareth Barry and with Leighton Baines – I will leave it like this.
“Wayne’s a captain on the pitch. He’s a captain off the pitch. And he doesn’t need the name of ‘captain’ because he’s that type of player - who is always involved in making players better and who is involved in having communication on the pitch.
“There is the quality of the player, the confidence I see in his football.
“And what I really like is his ambition in training, he shows the young lads in the team his experience and explains things, decisions about football, about positions.
“He’s a big player in English football and all the young players know all about Wayne Rooney.
“He’s an example about winning titles, about the qualities he shows on the pitch and he can be a teacher for the young players off the pitch.”
Everton might have lost star striker Romelu Lukaku but they are one of the big winners of the transfer window.
Koeman added: “We did really good work and I didn’t expect to get all the players.”
Everton (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Kenny, Keane, Williams, Baines; Schneiderlin, Gueye; Davies Klaasen, Rooney, Sandro.MFK Ruzomberok (4-3-3): Macik; P Maslo, J Maslo, Kruzliak, Kupec; Qose, Takac, Kochan; Daniel, Gal-Andrezly, Haskic.Referee: Georgi Kabakov (Bulgaria)TV Times: ITV4, 7.30pm
