• The 31-year-old hopes move to Everton will earn England return • If Rooney had gone to China he would have ended international career

Wayne Rooney has claimed Gareth Southgate was right to drop him from the England squad and added he would have quit international football had he left Manchester United for China.

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The 31-year-old was unveiled as Everton’s latest summer recruit at Goodison Park on Monday, having signed a two-year contract with his boyhood club, and insisted a return to the England fold was also on his agenda. Rooney has not played for Southgate since winning his 119th cap against Scotland in November 2016 but has refused to call time on his England career or the prospect of appearing at next summer’s World Cup in Russia.

Speaking for the first time about his England omission, the country’s record goalscorer defended Southgate’s stance but insisted a productive season with Everton could prompt an international recall.

Rooney, who is six caps shy of Peter Shilton’s all-time appearance record for England, said of playing at the 2018 World Cup: “I hope so. As you well know, I love playing for England. Gareth had to make a decision – as José [Mourinho] did – and I spoke to him. I wasn’t playing the football that I like and I don’t think you should play for your country if you are not playing for your club. That’s my personal opinion. So I understood his decision fully.

“He told me that if I get back playing every week then the door is still open to get back into the squad. It would be great if I could do that. If I do well here, I’m sure he will have a decision to make.”

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The former England captain added: “I need to be playing. You can’t get in the England squad because of what you have done before. You need to be playing well to represent your country. I understand that and I respect that. That is what you need to do. That’s what I have to do now.”

Rooney took a wage cut to return to Everton, where he will earn approximately half of the £240,000-a-week wage he enjoyed at Old Trafford, and had more lucrative contract offers from China. The upheaval of a move to China, the striker admitted, would have signalled the end of his international career.

“I want to play for England,” he said. “I think if I had gone to China, which was an option, then I would have called it a day myself. It’s the time difference and the difference in the standard of the league. It just wouldn’t have been right for me to try to carry on playing for England if I had gone there. First I want to get back to playing for Everton in the Premier League. I know that if I do that well, Gareth will either put me back in the squad – or not.”

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Rooney admitted he decided to leave United last November, around the time of his last England appearance, having seen his first-team prospects recede under Mourinho. Unsurprisingly, Rooney rejected the suggestion his career is in terminal decline with club and country.

He said: “People are entitled to their opinions. I respect what they think and of course I would say different. Coming back here is the right place for me. I know I have to go and prove myself. It will be a big challenge for me and a lot of pressure but I’ve had that my whole career. That is what makes me a better player.”