Wayne Rooney is attracting interest from Chelsea
Wayne Rooney is an integral part of the England set-up, regardless of whether he is playing regular first-team club football, national manager Roy Hodgson said on Monday
.
The 27-year-old's future at Manchester United remains uncertain, with the striker unsettled at Old Trafford and Chelsea having shown interest in the player.
Hodgson conceded that he would prefer Rooney's future to be decided, even if United manager David Moyes insisted that he was not for sale, but said he had encountered similar situations before.
"In my year and a bit as national team manager, I have been faced many many times with situations where players are not necessarily always playing in their team," he told a news conference.
"But because they have the talent and the quality and the skills we are looking for they have still managed to be selected," Hodgson said before England's friendly with Scotland on Wednesday.
He added: "Rooney will always be considered for England while he's physically fit because he's one of our best players."
In addition to his reported desire to leave Manchester United, Rooney has been struggling to return from injury that kept him out of the English Premier League champions' pre-season tour of Asia and Sunday's Charity Shield.
Rooney was seen training with the squad at England's St George's Park training ground near Burton-upon-Trent, west central England, on Monday morning and Hodgson said he came through "as expected".
"It's always difficult to know or to assess with the naked eye how fit or how match fit people are but there was no doubt in my mind that he's not suffering from any physical injury," Hodgson added.
"It will be interesting to get the feedback from our training sessions and we can see how he looks... I'm expecting him to tell me that everything was fine and that he's fit and raring to go tomorrow morning."
England versus Scotland is the world's oldest international fixture and was an annual event until 1989.
Wednesday's match at Wembley is the first between the neighbours and rivals in 14 years and has led to calls for the annual fixture to be revived.
Source: AFP
GMT 10:16 2018 Tuesday ,11 December
Kiev the latest home away from home for Shakhtar in crunch matchGMT 09:27 2018 Monday ,10 December
Gladbach win to go second, Mainz grab controversial drawGMT 07:27 2018 Sunday ,09 December
Messi's free-kick double keeps Barcelona clear at the top of La LigaGMT 11:56 2018 Thursday ,06 December
Messi primed for Catalan derby after Ballon d'Or snubGMT 14:47 2018 Wednesday ,05 December
All-conquering Shiffrin set for more success as WC returns to EuropeGMT 15:53 2018 Monday ,03 December
Swiss test for hosts Portugal, England meet Dutch in Nations LeagueGMT 07:07 2018 Sunday ,02 December
Man City extend Premier League lead; rivals United fall further backGMT 20:37 2018 Wednesday ,28 November
Record winners Sevilla among three Spanish sides seeking EL progressMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor