England

Wayne Rooney's England future in question as he moves to bench

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:35 p.m. ET

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Ryan Rosenblatt

How much longer will Wayne Rooney be part of the England team? That's the question as multiple reports indicate that Gareth Southgate will drop him to the bench for the Three Lions' World Cup qualifier against Slovenia on Tuesday.

Rooney has been an automatic starter for England for more than a decade now. Despite all of the talk about his dip in form, his position and whether he fits in the national team anymore, Rooney has still started nearly every match. Now they are set to head to an away match against a Slovenia team that could certainly give them problems and Southgate is apparently willing to put Rooney on the match. That's a major shift and a sign of where Rooney stands in the national team now. He's very much a part of it and still the captain, but his place is now clearly under review.

“I’ve got to make decisions which are right for the team and, whenever you select a team for England, you’re going to leave out some players,” Southgate said. “You look at the bench [against Malta] and there are guys who are playing every week in the Premier League, so you have to be prepared to do that (make tough decisions). That’s part and parcel of the job.”

Rooney's future won't be set in stone any time soon.

For one, he's Wayne Rooney, which carries a lot of weight for England. He's been the captain and star of the team for too long to simply be cast aside and left there without any talk of his return. And that's once he's left off the team, which hasn't even happened yet.

Rooney's future is as clouded as England's, though. Southgate is merely the interim manager so he can make whatever decision on Rooney that he wants, but if a new manager comes in after Southgate's interim spell is over at the end of the year, then that new boss will make his own choice on Rooney. And Southgate may be hesitant to make any big decision on Rooney because he doesn't want to saddle the new manager with his choice on Rooney. But there is still the possibility that Southgate becomes the England boss on a permanent basis, which is another wrinkle.

As has long been the case with Rooney, it's not clear what will happen. But he's certainly not an automatic starter, and that's a pretty big step.

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