It seems inappropriate to suggest on an evening when his place in sporting folklore will be formally commemorated but England have a good chance now to picture life without Wayne Rooney.

The Manchester United striker will miss tonight’s game against Estonia and Monday’s trip to Lithuania with a minor ankle injury but he will be at Wembley to receive a 24-carat golden boot from Sir Bobby Charlton prior to kick-off, marking his status as England’s all-time record goalscorer.

At the end of a week in which a BBC documentary depicted Rooney as a relaxed family man behind the scenes, the elephant in the room remains how uncomfortable he has looked at work in recent times.

Rooney has scored two goals in his last 15 Premier League games. His other four efforts this season came in the form of a hat-trick against Club Brugge and a solitary strike in United’s Capital One Cup victory over Ipswich.

He was barely able to land a blow as United succumbed tamely to Arsenal last weekend and there are many prepared to declare Rooney a player in terminal decline as he turns 30 later this month.

Of course, Roy Hodgson is not among them. Rooney has scored in seven of England’s eight Euro 2016 qualifiers - although, again, cynics would point out four of those goals were penalties - and the England manager takes every opportunity to cite his captain’s importance since assuming that role last August.

It would take a prolonged deterioration in form for Hodgson to even consider leaving Rooney out when the serious stuff begins in France but that exact move was hotly debated during last summer’s World Cup in France.

And a promising showing by Harry Kane or Theo Walcott in the next few days may trigger a similar discussion, especially given the minimal alterations Rooney’s absence prompts to England’s shape.

“Things don’t change tactically,” said Hodgson. “Harry Kane will play in the central position and he will play in the same way Wayne has played or try to do the same things. The rest of them will be trying to play the same football we try to play so there is no major tactical disturbance at all. It is that Harry Kane is a different player to Wayne Rooney and that’s where the differences come about.”

Hodgson’s preferred 4-3-3 system accommodates one central striker with Kane given the nod to earn his fourth cap in front of crowd expected to be close to a sell-out this evening - a remarkable attendance given the game is essentially a dead rubber and Estonia are hardly stellar opponents.

Both Kane and Walcott, who has shown genuine promise as a centre-forward for Arsenal, will have the chance to audition for Rooney’s position ahead of next month’s high-profile friendlies against Spain and France.

Hodgson has repeatedly indicated he will look to play his team for Euro 2016 - or the closest approximation as possible - in those game to test their mettle against the fancied runners at next summer’s finals.

“Rooney’s absence is a chance for others and if we are going to give a chance to others, these are the two games to do it,” he said. “We would desperately like to win both of them and will certainly be trying to win them but it is not the be all and end all.

“We don’t have a knife to our throat. So if he is going to miss anything, I would prefer, if I had to make the choice to be without him in these games or in November for the friendlies, strangely enough I would rather say I’d be without him in the qualifiers.

Probable England team (4-3-3) Hart; Clyne, Cahill, Smalling, Gibbs; Milner, Carrick, Barkley; Walcott, Kane, Sterling

“It is a strange thing to say but it is an opportunity for others because we never know. So many times we think in a particular position we have found an answer and we think we have found a man going forward who can really help us become the team we want to be, only to lose that man to injury. France is a long way off and a lot can happen.”

That sentiment of a flawed messiah could be applied to Rooney’s tournament career, with injury or a loss of form inhibiting England’s outstanding talent on the biggest stages since Euro 2004. Collectively, England are still searching for the kind of all-action performance to instigate hope of a prolonged run at next summer’s finals. How intriguing it would be were they to find one this evening without Rooney.