Euro 2016

Wayne Rooney confident young England squad can make big impact in France

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 05 June 2016

Wayne Rooney believes that England's latest raft of young players can make the same type of impact at Euro 2016 as he made 12 years ago on the big stage in Portugal.

England skipper Wayne Rooney has claimed that the youthful nature of the Three Lions' squad can help propel the nation to success at Euro 2016.

The Manchester United striker knows all about hitting the ground running at a young age, having impressed at the tournament 12 years ago with just 13 caps to his name at the time.

Rooney is now heading into his sixth major finals as an England player, sporting the captain's armband given to him by Roy Hodgson, and is expecting his side's latest crop of youngsters to make a similar impact in France this summer.

"It's definitely got the potential to be the best [squad] I've played in," he is quoted as saying by The Telegraph. "I think the future for the England national team is really bright and it can get off to a spectacular start this summer."

Asked if the fearlessness could help England, Rooney added: "Yeah, it could. It can also go the other way. We know that. We're not putting too much pressure on the players. And certainly the younger lads. We know it can be a real positive or it can go the other way and players can freeze so we need to make sure we're all together and behind them, encouraging them, trying to let them express themselves.

"I don't want to stand here and talk about [Euro 2004], it was a long time ago but it was obviously a positive tournament for myself personally but it ended in disaster. I'm sure a few of these players will have that sort of impact on this tournament and hopefully there's a few of them rather than one or two."

England kick off their Euros campaign with a meeting against Russia in Marseille next Saturday, before facing Wales and Slovakia in their other Group B fixtures.