Wayne Rooney overlooks Harry Kane as he name Man City star as England’s ‘best player’ ahead of World Cup

Wayne Rooney believes Phil Foden is England’s best player ahead of the World Cup in Qatar.

Foden, 22, has been in brilliant form for Manchester City this season, scoring eight goals in all competitions – including a stunning hat-trick against Manchester United.

He heads to the World Cup with a tonne of confidence, having excelled at club level under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola.

And Rooney has showered the Man City starlet with high praise, claiming he’s England’s best player – not Harry Kane.

The Man United legend referenced Foden’s ability to score and create chances as he paid him the ultimate compliment.

In his column for The Times, Rooney wrote: “The way he has been performing over the past couple of years shows he is England’s best player.

“He creates chances, he scores goals. He hasn’t quite done it for England – what he does for City – but I think he’s got everything you need and that technically and ability-wise he’s the best player we’ve got.”

Rooney added: “It’s great to have Jack Grealish and James Maddison in reserve. Grealish can come in off the left or the right, and come into the No 10 position so Gareth has options on the bench.”

Also selecting his XI for the opening game, Rooney explained: “How would Foden operate in my team? With the right winger [Saka] coming inside, I would keep Foden wide on the left side and get him getting at players, committing players one v one and putting crosses into the box, which he’s so good at.”

As for Kane, his ex-England teammate still had some kind words, labelling the Tottenham Hotspur talisman as Southgate’s “most important” man. “He’s the captain, he’s the goal scorer and he’s the one who is going to make the difference,” Rooney affirmed.

“If you look at the players I’ve put around him, you could get runs in behind from [Jude] Bellingham, Foden and Saka or Sterling. That would allow him to continue playing the way he does at Tottenham Hotspur, almost like Francesco Totti did for Roma : he can drop deep and play passes but also be a threat in the penalty area.

“The creative side of Harry’s game has become as important as his scoring and you see some of the passes he’s playing, and assists he’s getting, for Tottenham — it’s a huge development. I did it myself, where you go from being a centre forward to being a No 10 or midfielder.”

With 51 goals for the Three Lions, Kane sits just two strikes behind Rooney on the all-time list, and the current D.C. United boss would be pleased to see his record broken in Qatar.

“Do I expect him to break my England goals record at this tournament? Yeah, I hope so,” Rooney added. “The sooner the better, really. It would get it off his mind and let him focus on the games.”