Monday 28 March 2016 18:33, UK
Wayne Rooney will not start at Euro 2016, according to Patrick Barclay, but his thoughts were not shared by his fellow Sunday Supplement panelists.
The England captain has been left out of Roy Hodgson's squad for the current intentional break due to injury, with a young Three Lions producing a fantastic comeback performance against Germany in his absence.
It has once again raised questions about Rooney's chances of makes the final cut for the European Championship this June - and the Evening Standard columnist was clear about where he stands of the issue.
"I don't think Roy will start with him, he'll look to start with his best players and at the moment, that doesn't included Rooney," Barclay said on Sunday Supplement.
"Wayne Rooney's form has dipped, particularly at club level because he's so far and away the most vital player at Manchester United and it's no coincidence his form has dipped.
"Now he knows he's going to have to up his game to get a place with England. It's up to him, if he does it then he gets a place and if he doesn't, he doesn't. That is exactly what Hodgson will be thinking, I can promise you that."
But his views were not shared by fellow journalist Martin Lipton, who was adamant that Rooney should be not only included in the 23 man squad for France - but should be starting as a No 10.
"Yes I would start him and there are some good statistical reasons for it," added The Sun writer.
"He's scored 11 goals in his 13 games as captain and he was the top scorer in qualifying with seven. He's also scored 36 competitive goals in 66 games which is a ratio better than anybody, with only Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker having scored more tournament goals.
"He's England's leading goalscorer of all time and, under Hodgson, he's scored 23 in 36 games - that's not a bad collection of statistics. He's still a very good player.
"Before he got injured, he was playing as well as anyone in the Premier League and had an outstanding start to 2016, scoring lots of goals, playing really really well in a poor team.
"Personally, I would play him as a 10 with Dele Alli and Ross Barkley either side of him in a very narrow three. He's still one of our best 11 players and he should be starting."
