{"id":669224,"date":"2026-07-02T05:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T05:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/669224\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T05:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T05:18:15","slug":"wayne-rooney-demands-retired-england-star-to-be-recalled-for-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/669224\/","title":{"rendered":"Wayne Rooney demands retired England star to be recalled for World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wayne Rooney believes Kyle Walker should have been recalled for England after Tino Livramento was ruled out of the\u00a0World Cup.<\/p>\n

The Three Lions<\/a> are currently experiencing a crisis at right-back<\/a> following injuries to both Livramento and Reece James<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Djed<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Djed Spence struggled in his second start at this summer’s World CupCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Chelsea<\/a> captain James entered the tournament as first-choice in the position, and started in the first two games, but has been ruled out until at least the last 16 with a hamstring problem<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jarell Quansah then deputised in the role in England’s final group game against Panama, only to suffer a twisted ankle.<\/p>\n

As a result, Djed Spence<\/a> started at right-back for the Three Lions’ 2-1 comeback win over DR Congo<\/a> in the round of 32.<\/p>\n

But the Tottenham defender, who usually plays left-back for his club, looked far from comfortable, and was substituted on 70 minutes.<\/p>\n

Read more on talksport<\/p>\n

Declan Rice<\/a>\u00a0then closed out the game at right-back and impressed in the unfamiliar position, as a late Harry Kane<\/a> double saw Thomas Tuchel<\/a>‘s side squeeze through to the next round.<\/p>\n

Rooney: Tuchel should have been ‘right on the phone’<\/p>\n

With England facing a real conundrum at right-back heading into their round of 16 meeting with Mexico, national team hero Rooney believes manager Tuchel has missed a trick here.<\/p>\n

Newcastle full-back Livramento<\/a>, who would likely have deputised for James this summer, was ruled out of the tournament<\/a> on the eve of England’s World Cup opener.<\/p>\n

And Rooney has insisted that retired full-back Walker should have been contacted over a sensational return.<\/p>\n

Appearing as a pundit for the BBC, Rooney said: “We’ve seen it before. It’s happened before where players come out of retirement. <\/p>\n

“I think the minute Livramento got injured, I think he should have been right on the phone to Kyle Walker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Kyle<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Walker was England’s first choice right-back from Euro 2016 all the way through to Euro 2024Credit: Getty\"Wayne<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Rooney believes his old Three Lions teammate could still do a jobCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

“Kyle is still more than good enough and more than capable of playing in this England team. <\/p>\n

“I would have been on the phone to him saying, ‘Listen we need you here. Can you come out and help us?’ <\/p>\n

“That could really cost us [the right-back area]. I’m worried on that.”<\/p>\n

While Rooney believes Tuchel should have tried to convinced Walker to perform a U-turn on his international retirement, this wouldn’t have been a decision for him just a few months ago.<\/p>\n

The Burnley defender only called time on his England career<\/a> in March, bringing an end to a memorable 14-year stint.<\/p>\n

Walker won 96 caps for\u00a0the Three Lions<\/a>, scoring one goal, and was part of the England squad for five consecutive major tournaments between 2016 and 2024.<\/p>\n

\"Reece<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

England will be praying James is fit for their round of 16 clash in Mexico CityCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Those included their run to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, as well as back-to-back finals at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024.<\/p>\n

Alexander-Arnold omission blasted<\/p>\n

Rooney wasn’t the only pundit to question Tuchel’s selections<\/a> at right-back for this summer’s World Cup.<\/p>\n

One of the most controversial calls heading into the tournament was the exclusion of Real Madrid star Trent Alexander-Arnold<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And talkSPORT’s Jamie O’Hara<\/a> was quick to bring this up after victory over DR Congo, as he laid into Spence’s performance, and blasted Tuchel for leaving Alexander-Arnold at home.<\/p>\n

O’Hara fumed on air: \u201cSpence doesn’t want to cross the ball – it’s not his game. He’s athletic, he’ll defend well, it’s not his game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd all of a sudden, the best part of the game where we looked alright, was when Declan Rice went to right-back and Saka played right wing –\u00a0 because they had a connection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT\"Trent<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Alexander-Arnold was part of England’s World Cup squads in both 2018 and 2022Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if Saka tried to get to the byline, and it didn’t happen, it came back to Rice and Rice put the ball in the box.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow have we not taken Trent? How? It’s going to go down as one of the worst World Cup squad picks ever, that Trent hasn’t gone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wayne Rooney believes Kyle Walker should have been recalled for England after Tino Livramento was ruled out of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[12332,39713,309,218,29745,43821,177,101,55531,36313,48585,56,54,55,28552],"class_list":["post-669224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-declan-rice","tag-djed-spence","tag-england","tag-football","tag-harry-kane","tag-kyle-walker","tag-reece-james","tag-sports","tag-thomas-tuchel","tag-tino-livramento","tag-trent-alexander-arnold","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wayne-rooney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}