The days of building an England team around Wayne Rooney are over. Everybody can see he hasn’t been at the top of his game for a while and whereas he was once automatically the first name on the teamsheet, that is no longer the case.

He is England captain, the most experienced player in the squad by a mile and someone still capable of turning a game in your favour. Rooney is a huge character in the dressing room and a leader on the pitch — England don’t have many without him.

But his form simply hasn’t been good enough for Roy Hodgson to set up his team around getting the best out of him. The bold call would be to leave him out of the starting line-up at Euro 2016 but I can’t see him doing that because of the controversy it would cause.

The easy decision is to play him but for the first time in Rooney’s long international career, it feels as though you are crowbarring him into a team as opposed to making him the main man. Wayne is a top player but he isn’t Lionel Messi and now there are so many exciting options elsewhere in the squad.

In my opinion Harry Kane is the best all-round centre-forward England have at the moment. I had to laugh at the start of the year when people were debating whether he was a one-season wonder at Tottenham. He’s currently the leading goalscorer in the Premier League. I think we can put that debate to bed now, can’t we?

He’s got to play. Daniel Sturridge, when he’s fit, is a fantastic player and Roy really likes him but that causes a problem. If I was picking the team, I’d try and get Wayne in there somewhere but it is difficult to balance your team up correctly if you include all three because you have to get Dele Alli in there, too.

If Roy plays 4-3-3, Rooney doesn’t get in as the central striker ahead of Kane so he’d have to go out wide. Roy used Rooney on the left in the World Cup against Italy and, okay, he got an assist for Sturridge’s goal, but otherwise he was useless.

Rooney’s not a wide player. Kane isn’t either. You could shove Sturridge out there but he isn’t as effective as he is through the middle.

Perhaps a 4-4-2 with a midfield diamond is the only way to get Rooney, Kane and Alli in the same team — these are the issues Roy will be thinking about morning, noon and night but the unpredictability of it all should excite England fans who probably still have low expectations.

Rooney is injured for these two games against Germany and Holland and that creates a great opportunity for the young players.

The older lads failed in Brazil and at Euro 2012 so why not give them their head now and in the summer?

We need to test ourselves against the best nations in the world and find out how good these kids are because it was such a poor qualifying group there is no way of knowing how far the team has come. Switzerland were the only team that were remotely capable of causing England any problems. Spain and France were good opportunities to see how we match up and we are going to have to play the best in Europe at some stage if we want a serious run at Euro 2016 so why not play them now?

It should sharpen us up and give Roy a chance to see where we are at. If they thrive, it’ll only put Rooney under more pressure.