Roy Hodgson won't omit Wayne Rooney from England's Euro squad
Despite the emergence of new attacking options and multiple recent injuries to Wayne Rooney, England manager Roy Hodgson has no plans to omit his captain from the Three Lions' squad for Euro 2016.
Hodgson watched as forwards Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane scored goals in England's comeback from a two-goal deficit to beat 2014 World Cup champion Germany in Berlin on Saturday, but Rooney remains in his roster for the summer. Rooney, 30, has missed eight EPL matches this season for Manchester United with various ailments, and he has seven goals during the league campaign. He has never scored fewer than 11 since joining United ahead of the 2004-05 season.
“Wayne, I repeat, is our captain,” Hodgson said, according to The Guardian. “He has captained the team extremely well these past two years and taken us through a qualification campaign where we had complete success, 10 wins out of 10, so it doesn’t please me too much when it is suggested that the moment he gets injured and doesn’t play he deserves to be jettisoned in some way. He certainly doesn’t deserve that and when he comes back and is fit again he is going to be putting enormous pressure on these players, just as these players have been putting enormous pressure on him."
One player who is unlikely to be making the trip to France is back-up goalkeeper Jack Butland, who suffered a fractured ankle against Germany.
England faces the Netherlands on Tuesday in its final match during the March international fixture window.
