Wayne Rooney Reportedly No Longer Seen as England Captain by Gareth Southgate

England manager Gareth Southgate reportedly no longer views Wayne Rooney as the national team captain after leaving the Manchester United forward out of the squad for upcoming Three Lions fixtures.  

According to the Guardian's Daniel Taylor, Rooney was omitted from the 26-man squad to face Germany and Lithuania despite telling the manager he is now fit, and the forward is "no longer seen by Gareth Southgate as the team captain."

Date	Time	Fixture
March 22	7:45 p.m. GMT	Germany vs. England (Friendly)
March 26	5 p.m. BST	England vs. Lithuania (World Cup qualifier)

Southgate said when he was caretaker England manager back in October that Rooney, 31, would remain as skipper, per BBC Sport.

However, ahead of his first game in charge since his permanent appointment, Southgate has now seemingly changed his tune, indicating Rooney will struggle even to get back in the squad given the other options available, per Taylor:

"

We have to look at Wayne as a No. 10, which is his predominant role. In the last two games we’ve played Dele Alli there and we’ve played Adam Lallana there. Both are playing very well, scoring and assisting for their clubs. Ross Barkley has been playing very well for his club. So there’s competition. I can’t dress it up any other way. There are some very good players and it’s a battle to get in this squad.

I don’t think he expects, if he is not playing every week for his club, to be picked in this sort of situation.

We have this thing about ‘an England captain’ but really the captain is the person who is captain in the next game, isn’t it? Or the game on the next day. I always just assume you pick a team for a game and the captain of that game is the captain.

"

Rooney has been involved only sparingly for United under manager Jose Mourinho in 2016-17 and has recently been sidelined through injury.

However, per Taylor, Rooney made clear to Southgate he was available for selection despite his recent problems, but the former Middlesbrough boss still decided to leave him out and praised him for his "very mature" reaction to the news.

As noted by BT Sport Football pundits Michael Owen and Owen Hargreaves, it is understandable that the veteran forward has been left out:

He is England's all-time record goalscorer and has had the armband since 2014 but, given his lack of game time and goals recently, it is hard to argue with his exclusion from the Three Lions squad. 

Rooney's United career looks to be coming to an end with a potential return to Everton in the summer rumoured recently, per the Press Association (via the Guardian).

And his days as an England regular also look to be over given that he has been unable to make the squad despite the absence of Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane and Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge.