Everton manager Sam Allardyce has cast doubt over Wayne ­Rooney’s long-term Premier League future by suggesting that he struggles to be effective against high-level opponents.

Rooney was captured by television cameras unleashing a stream of expletives after being substituted after the 57th minute of Saturday’s goalless Merseyside derby.

It came seven days after the 32-year-old had been replaced at the same stage of Everton’s 3-1 home defeat by Manchester City.

Rooney has moved into a deeper midfield role this season, having been brought back to his boyhood club from Manchester United last July as a No 10, but his lack of pace has been questioned by Allardyce.

The Everton manager suggested in January that he could not ­accommodate Rooney and £45 million club-record signing Gylfi ­Sigurdsson in the same team ­because neither were quick, while he said that Saturday’s substitution was made, in part, because Everton needed “more legs”.