Wayne Rooney Talks England Retirement, Raheem Sterling Ahead of Record Attempt

It only feels like yesterday when an 18-year-old Wayne Rooney dazzled for England at the 2004 European Championship. So it’s strange to hear the Manchester United man addressing the prospect of international retirement.

Now a 29-year-old, thoroughbred centre-forward with 49 international goals to his name, the England skipper has insisted that as long as he’s still playing, he’d never rule out to prospect of representing the national team. That’s a decision, Rooney thinks, should rest with the manager, per Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail:

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It’ll be the manager’s choice more than mine. It’s a huge honour to play for England and it’ll be difficult to say I’m ready not to play.

I feel I’m capable of going to Russia, but if the manager doesn’t feel I’m in his plans for that tournament, then it’s probably better I don’t play in the qualifying games.

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The Three Lions captain is set to play for his country for the 107th time on Tuesday evening, when England face Switzerland at Wembley. It’s a match in which he can potentially pull ahead of Sir Bobby Charlton and become England’s all-time record goalscorer, which would be a remarkable feat to achieve before his 30th birthday.

Rooney relishes playing for England. As we can see here courtesy of WhoScored.com, at the moment, it seems to be a release for him given his poor run of form at club level:

He's likely to continue enjoying it for a while yet. At this juncture, it’s tough to see any young players coming through and shunting the United man out of Roy Hodgson’s England XI, but there is a burgeoning group of players worth getting excited about. The crown jewel of which is probably Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling.

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The winger joined the Etihad Stadium outfit this summer in an ill-tempered transfer from Liverpool. But Rooney, who also traded Merseyside for Manchester at a young age, has praised the renewed temperament of the England winger after his fine start to the season, per Paul Brown of the Daily Star:

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You can see he’s settled. He’s happy, I’m sure. He’s got the move he wanted. He’s started the season excellently, settled in really well at City.

When you are going through what he did, trying to leave Liverpool, it can be quite difficult. But he’s a lot more relaxed and settled, which is good for us.

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Sterling bagged his first goal for City in a 2-0 win over Watford last time out and has afforded Manuel Pellegrini’s side a refreshed edge in their attacking assaults. The winger has yet to find a defined role with the Three Lions, but he’s a player whom manager Roy Hodgson should be looking to build the team around.

Hodgson has tipped Sterling for big things too, per John Cross of the Daily Mirror:

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It’s a big year for him. He’ll have a lot of big years: France in 2016, Russia in 2018, 2020 all over Europe, and 2022 - It’s a big year and something to look forward to but, at his age, he has plenty more to look forward to. I’m sure that, one day, he’ll be looking forward to sitting here with over 100 caps

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Having someone such as Rooney in the squad for these young players is ideal for Hodgson. The United man knows what it's like to come into the team under pressure and how to overcome all the challenges that are conjured by international football. Indeed, as he stands on brink of breaking an illustrious record, there’s no denying the captain is a fine role model.

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As noted by Sporting Intelligence, when Rooney does get to 50 goals, he’ll be in elite company:

The challenge for the forward is to keep going. If Rooney can remain a force at the point of the attack while players such as Sterling, Harry Kane, Daniel Sturridge, Ross Barkley, Luke Shaw and John Stones continue to develop, then this England team has an extremely exciting future to look forward to. 

While surpassing the all-time goalscoring record would be an ambition achieved for Rooney, it’s clear he feels as though he has more to give at international level.