Taking their cue from interim manager Gareth Southgate's decision to drop Rooney from England's starting XI for its 2018 World Cup qualifying match against Slovenia on Tuesday, some observers are now prematurely digging the 30-year-old's footballing grave, predicting that his time is running out. It doesn't take a genius to argue that age, the wear-and-tear of nearly 700 appearances for clubs and country and the displacement of older players by younger ones will, in the not unforeseeable future, combine to permanently sideline Rooney. It has for several seasons been clear to all, including Rooney, that he no longer has the scything speed that made him such a bulldog forward in his younger days and that he is increasingly struggling with football's ever-quicker tempo, notably in England's Premier League. More...