New England boss Sam Allardyce has refused to confirm who will be his captain as he looks to wait until he has met with the players first.
‘Big Sam’ was introduced to the media at a press conference on Monday, and covered various topics as he gets to work in his new role.
Among the points up for discussion was who his captain would be, and Allardyce neither confirmed nor dismissed that Rooney would continue in the position.
WATCH: Allardyce says it’s too early to make any predictions on his @england captain: https://t.co/u7Md7LLmwP #SSNHQ https://t.co/OhATFpWa0y
— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ) July 25, 2016
“It’s far too early to make any predictions in that area,” he told the media, as seen in the video above.
“I’m going to leave that until we meet all the players and we get all the coaching staff together behind the scenes and plan for the internationals in September.
“It’s the first day in and [I’m] getting my feet under the table. I’m meeting everybody here at St George’s Park.”
While the 61-year-old remains confident that he has the experience and knowledge to be a success in the top job in English football, time will tell whether or not he’s the right appointment to succeed Roy Hodgson.
His predecessor kept faith in Rooney despite calls prior to Euro 2016 to drop the Manchester United star, but ultimately it didn’t work as planned with England dumped out of the tournament by Iceland in the last-16.
Rooney was deployed in a midfield role in France this summer, but with Jose Mourinho’s intention to play him further up the pitch again at United, it remains to be seen what it means not only for his continued captaincy of England, but also for his selection itself moving forward.