Rooney left out of England squad in latest blow

LONDON: Wayne Rooney’s international career looks over after England’s all-time top-scorer was on Thursday left out of the squad for next month’s World Cup qualifier against Scotland and a friendly in France.

The 31-year-old striker has lost his place at Manchester United and was similarly omitted from Gareth Southgate’s England squad announced in March, although he was carrying a knee injury at the time.

Fit-again Rooney, who made a brief appearance in Manchester United’s Europa League final win over Ajax in Stockholm on Wednesday, had hoped to end his international career by captaining England at next year’s World Cup in Russia.

But this now looks an increasingly forlorn hope for Rooney, England’s record goalscorer with 53 goals and their most capped outfielder with 119 appearances for his country.

His United career could also be over having fallen down the pecking order under manager Jose Mourinho.

“We have a lot of players playing exceptionally well in the area of the pitch that Wayne plays,” Southgate told thefa.com.

“I said last time (in March) that he was a bit short of matches — he’s had some matches now but we’ve got players that have done really, really well for us in Adam Lallana and Dele Alli.”