Wayne Rooney to be rested for Spain match

Announcing his decision, the manager stressed that Rooney remains England captain and hinted that he will play against France in the second of the nation’s two friendlies next Tuesday.

England boss Roy Hodgson confirmed that the Leicester City striker, and the Premier League’s leading scorer, was likely to miss out against Spain because of an injury he picked in the victory over Watford last week.

With Wayne Rooney rested and the in-form Jamie Vardy a doubt through injury, Barkley is expected to back-up Tottenham hitman Kane in England’s front-line. I have heard that put forward so maybe it’s the fact that the pitches, being so good, are forcing people to slide and stretch a bit more; that’s a possibility.

“It would be good if we can spare as many players as possible having to play the two games at this stage of the season”, Hodgson said.

“Everyone wants to feel important wherever they are and right now I feel I am a very important player within the club”.

“You have seen players have a great season and go for big moves and they go on leaps and bounds from there like Jamie Vardy this season”.

“Hopefully the lads who come in can do well and give the manager something to think about”.

Not since Luis Suarez’s dramatic late victor in June 2014 have England been on the losing side of an worldwide match, a run which saw them win every Euro 2016 qualifier.

The England manager feels no need to speak to his players about keeping their cool in the face of Costa’s aggression, however.

After all, when asked to appraise what appeared to be an impressive full debut against Ecuador shortly before the World Cup, Hodgson memorably said: “I’m not prepared to address your obsession with Ross Barkley”.

On the other hand, Roy Hodgson has an interesting dilemma at hand, with a host of young players making themselves available this season.

“It s such a different situation to during and after the World Cup when I don t think we had that degree of people knocking on the door”, he said.

“I think he should play”, Rooney said with a smile when Hodgson deflected a reporter’s question about Carrick to his captain at a press briefing in the team hotel near Benidorm on Thursday. I remember when the Spanish team won the European championships [in 2008], before that there was a lot of criticism.

However, Hodgson insisted it was his desire to experiment ahead of next year’s European Championships and not Rooney’s form that was the reason for him starting on the bench on Friday.

“Tomorrow’s match will be a tough test for us and for them to see what level they’re at”.