England captain Wayne Rooney, To Quit National Team

England captain Wayne Rooney, To Quit National Team

England captain Wayne Rooney has confirmed he will quit international football after the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The 30-year-old Manchester United forward was recently confirmed as new manager Sam Allardyce’s captain, but in a news conference ahead of Sunday’s World Cup qualifier against Slovakia, he said the next two years will be his last with the national side, Mirror writes.

“I know Russia will be my last opportunity to do anything so I’m going to try and enjoy these two years and hopefully end my time with England on a high,” he said.

“I said before the Euros I enjoy playing in this team, I’m excited by the players and that’s the case still. I said as soon as the Euros finished that I wanted to continue and I made Sam aware of that when he got the job.

“He reiterated I would continue as captain. I was pleased. It’s nice to captain your country and I’m looking forward to the new regime.”

Meanwhile, Big Sam has insisted he will look to play him as a number 10 in the same way as Jose Mourinho does at Manchester United, although Rooney sees no problem with his position.

“It’s the manager’s decision. We haven’t spoken about it but I’m sure we will in the next few days, I’m ready to play whether it’s midfield or elsewhere.

“It’s early days in the camp – we’ve only been here a day. We’ll find out how Sam wants us to play in certain games, but I’m looking forward to it, to see what type of training sessions he’ll do”

Rooney is the Three Lions all-time top scorer with 53 times in 115 appearances since his debut in 2004.