Wayne Rooney has weighed in on one of the more debated England World Cup selections, with an Arsenal player at the centre of it.
Thomas Tuchel has included four Arsenal players in his 26-man squad: Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, and Noni Madueke.
The Madueke pick in particular has raised eyebrows, having just two Premier League goals and one assist left many questioning whether his inclusion was justified.
Rooney is among those who wouldn’t have picked Madueke.
Explain to us why Bukayo Saka should still start over Noni Madueke?
Speaking on The Wayne Rooney Show, the former England captain was asked whether he would have taken Cole Palmer over the Arsenal winger.
“Cole? I would, yeah,” Rooney said. “But that’s a call [Tuchel]’s made.
“And if you look, it hasn’t fared too badly for Arsenal this season. Having Saka, and Madueke as backup.”
Madueke joined Arsenal from Chelsea last summer for £50 million in a switch that raised scepticism among fans of both clubs.
His season started promisingly but has since been underwhelming, disrupted when a knee injury ruled him out for two months between September and November.
Across all competitions he contributed seven goals and four assists in 41 appearances, numbers that fall well short of several players who missed out on the squad, including Palmer, Jarrod Bowen, Morgan Gibbs-White and Phil Foden.
The case for Noni Madueke’s place in England’s World Cup squad
Noni Madueke has been selected for England multiple times since Tuchel became manager, so the German clearly sees a lot of value in the 24-year-old.
While he may not be reliably producing goal output for Arsenal, Madueke is an excellent dribbler — only six Premier League players average more take-ons per 90 minutes than his six this season.
That ability to commit defenders and create space is precisely the kind of impact substitute quality that can prove decisive at a tournament when legs are tired and space is harder to find.
His versatility to play on either wing also works in his favour, and the familiarity he has built with Saka at Arsenal — the two sharing minutes on the same right flank — gives Tuchel a ready-made combination to call upon.
Rooney himself acknowledges this, saying that having Saka and Madueke as options on the right has not exactly held Arsenal back this year.
The World Cup will be Madueke’s first major international tournament and if he can make an impact off the bench in key moments, Tuchel’s faith may yet prove well placed.
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