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There is one very obvious reason Wayne Rooney would make a successful centre midfielder and it goes by the name of Paul Scholes.

Scholes retired this season to cacophonous sounds of appreciation from football’s great and good.

Zidane, Xavi, Davids, Lippi, all were in agreement, Scholes was one of the best midfielders of this or any generation.

There are stylistic similarities in the way Scholes and Rooney play, a panoramic understanding of the dimensions and angles on the pitch, comfort in playing short and long, thunderous and accurate shooting, even the way they kick the ball can be said to be not dissimilar. They receive the ball better than any other English player, never static, always on the move.

Where they differ is the pace and speed that they bring to their teams. Scholes was all about quick release, making the ball do the work – simple space finding movement, and the correct pass. Rooney seeks, although he knows when he shouldn’t, to carry the ball himself before passing or shooting. 

Rooeny has shown himself adept at just about every modern forward positional permutation – wide left, wide right, the hole, the line leader, the poacher, the target man. His primary faculties though suggest he could flourish in centre midfield. A prophetic reading of the flow of a game, passing of range and accuracy, boundless stamina, and a physicality to withstand the rough and tumble that make the Premier League more tragicomedy than romance. He carries the ball like no Englishman has done since the days Paul Gascoigne was in his pre-knee knack pomp.

A lack of discipline and volcanic temper are often used to berate Rooney. He has made high profile on pitch mistakes resulting in expulsion and suspension, in this he is not alone. Scholes protested into retirement that he was a good, but occasionally retributive, tackler – 90 yellow cards made him the third most cautioned player behind Lee Bowyer and Kevin Davies. Gascoigne’s painful misdeeds are well documented. Would Rooney explode and then implode tasked with the role of midfield conductor?

The answer is one of psyche. Sir Alex Ferguson has successfully exploited Rooney’s flexibility, squashing him into some fairly odd shaped tactical holes, with generally brilliant results. The most legitimate murmurs of discontent have come after his less successful England outings. For England Rooney is more of a supernova whereas at United he is a bright star in a constellation.  This expectation seems to be a psychological burden.  Ferguson is adept at counseling his players, in a way that few recent England managers are.

Tactical innovation is another aspect that Ferguson is not credited with often enough. The courage to chance a new formation or a player’s position have long set him apart in the English game.  Although impressed with Rooney’s midfield performance against Galati, Ferguson has said that still sees Rooney’s long term position being upfront.  Paul Scholes began his United career as a striker – he was slowly called back from the front line until he ended his career as a deep lying playmaker siting infront of the United defence.  That was one realignment that worked spectacularly well for Manchester United, tragically England never got to reap similar reward.

It was Paul Scholes destiny to have been England’s artist in residence, their central conductor, the Anglo-Xavi.  Sadly he spent most of his international career garrisoned on the left wing, as the stronger personalities and tactical demands of first David Beckham and later Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard occupied the thinking of his longest serving international coach.  Scholes twinkled intermittently, but his star shone all too briefly for England. Glenn Hoddle and then Kevin Keegan recognised his quality and gave it license. The long and tedious reign of Sven Goran Eriksson, who implored the England press and public to save Rooney, killed Scholes the international.

After a pulsating teenaged start under Eriksson, Rooney’s national team performances reached a painful nadir in the South Africa World Cup. The stifling grip of Fabio Capello and caustic happenings in his private life saw Rooney, and the England team around him, plumb new depths of ineptitude. Could he find redemption leading England to victory from the centre of the Maracana in the 2014 World Cup Final? England need midfield players who can keep the ball.  And Rooney certainly.   It will take a brave manager to take such a gamble.  No one gambled on Scholes and everyone lost.

Possible England team for the 2014 World Cup:

Hart; Clyne, Jones, Smalling, A Cole; Wilshire, Cleverly, Rooney; Sturridge, Wellbeck, Caroll.

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