The numbers are a glittering legacy of Wayne Rooney’s England career | Dominic Fifield

For all the impressive records, Rooney’s time in an England shirt will always be judged by the failure to repeat his jaw-dropping form from Euro 2004

There is an irony that Wayne Rooney, a player plenty, including the England manager, had considered surplus to requirements last season, has chosen to retire from international football just as . Adam Lallana and Ross Barkley are in rehabilitation. Other forwards have yet to find form this term. Cue Gareth Southgate’s telephone call this week, the tone of which, Rooney implied, was that the former captain’s presence might be beneficial in the squad for the forthcoming qualifiers against Malta and Slovakia.