Wayne Rooney picks his England XI for Euro 2024 opener
Wayne Rooney has named his starting XI for England's Euro 2024 opener against Serbia on Sunday, June 12. The Manchester United legend benched the Chelsea duo of Cole Palmer and Conor Gallagher, as well as Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Speaking on The Overlap, Rooney picked Jordan Pickford as his #1 goalkeeper for the England side. He claimed that the Everton star was as important as Harry Kane, whom he chose as the frontman for Gareth Southgate's men.
The former striker named Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier as his full-backs with Marc Guehi partnering John Stones in the heart of the defense. Notably, though, the Manchester City center-back missed training this week due to illness and could miss the EURO opener.
In the midfield, Rooney named Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham for deeper roles, with Phil Foden playing ahead of them as a No. 10. Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon were picked as the two wingers with Kane leading the attack.
Pundit wants England to pick Cole Palmer over Bukayo Saka
Football pundit Jeff Stelling, on talkSPORT, opined that Cole Palmer should start for England ahead of Bukayo Saka. The pundit claimed that the Chelsea star was currently the better option and should thus be playing on the right wing.
He said on talkSPORT Breakfast:
"My front three is going to be a bit controversial. I'm going to pick (Cole) Palmer just ahead of Bukayo Saka. Saka's had a bit of a knock, not quite back up to 100 per cent, I think Palmer showed enough against Iceland.
"Palmer, (Harry) Kane and Anthony Gordon, who I thought was our biggest threat for most part of the night. He has been in brilliant form, and everyone's going to batter me because there is no Phil Foden there. But Foden, four goals in 34 games for England. I think Gareth Southgate and his staff are scratching their heads as to how to get the best out of Phil Foden for England."
Explaining his reason for picking Marc Guehi and Lewis Dunk as his center-backs, the pundit added:
"Serbia are the biggest team in the tournament, the tallest team in the tournament. They are going to be physical, they are going to be aggressive. John Stones has picked up a knock. He's not physical. He's not aggressive, so I've put Lewis Dunk in there."
The Three Lions start their EURO 2024 campaign against Serbia on Sunday. They will then face Denmark and Slovenia in the other two group-stage matches and will hope to make it to the knockout stages.