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Logic says there’s no place for Wayne Rooney at Euro 2016

By Rucker Haringey

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 02: Wayne Rooney of Manchester United celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Stoke City at Old Trafford on February 2, 2016 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 02: Wayne Rooney of Manchester United celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Stoke City at Old Trafford on February 2, 2016 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images) /
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Roy Hodgson will take Wayne Rooney to Euro 2016, but it’s just a lifetime achievement award for the Manchester United striker

England manager Roy Hodgson is dead wrong about taking Wayne Rooney to Euro 2016. There’s simply no on-field purpose for bringing the 30-year-old striker along with the likes of Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy and Danny Welbeck on the squad.

You have to hope that Hodgson is just bringing Rooney along for leadership and/or moral support. There’s no role for the England captain to play on the pitch at this point in his career despite Hodgson’s thoughts to the contrary. That doesn’t mean he’s washed up or a bad player, it just means that The Three Lions have significantly better options.

Rooney deserves all of the plaudits in the world for his outstanding international career. His prolific scoring allowed him to break Sir Bobby Charlton’s international goal scoring record and that will allow him to live on forever in football history. International football is a what can you do for me now business, and that answer for Rooney is not enough to make the squad for Euro 2016.

The easiest way to illustrate this is to imagine how Hodgson might deploy Rooney if he were to make the squad. Playing him at striker has to be entirely out of the question. Tottenham front man Harry Kane has a stranglehold on the starting position and Jamie Vardy’s form dictates he be the back-up. Even the likes of Danny Welbeck or Daniel Sturridge could arguably deserve to play as England’s number nine instead of Rooney.

Given that, you have to consider deploying Rooney as either a wide forward or a number ten. Playing him out wide only serves to hamstring the England attack. His lack of pace would really slow the squad down and could really congest the middle of their attack. There’s an outside chance he might be able to create a scoring opportunity with a precise cross, but Hodgson would be a fool to bank on that. Instead, he should play Welbeck, Vardy, Lallana or another more natural wide man.

If you consider putting Rooney behind Kane, that means you’ve taken Dele Alli out of his best role. Some might scoff at having Rooney give way in favor of the 19-year-old Spurs star, but those people haven’t watched the two play this season. Alli’s one of the most creative players in the Premier League and he’s a must-start for Hodgson in the middle.

Replacing him with Rooney also would rob the England squad of the valuable Alli-Kane connection. It’s been the most prolific scoring connection in the Premier League this season and it’s translated well to International duty as well. By taking Alli out of the lineup for Rooney, you’d cost the squad a significant amount of Kane’s comfort up top.

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Instead of guaranteeing Rooney a trip to Euro 2016, Roy Hodgson should be thinking of how to build on the squad’s terrific comeback victory over Germany. If he did that, he’d realize that youth is the way forward for The Three Lions.