England have not got the best out of Wayne Rooney, says Darren Lewis
Sunday 6 September 2015 17:28, UK
Darren Lewis says it is an 'outstanding achievement' for Wayne Rooney to equal Bobby Charlton's record, but does not believe England have got the best out of him.
The Manchester United striker moved level on 49 goals with Charlton after scoring the opener in England's 6-0 win over San Marino on Saturday.
The 29-year-old will now be looking to surpass the record against Switzerland at Wembley on Tuesday and become only the 44th player to score 50 international goals.
While Daily Mirror journalist Lewis was full of praise for Rooney's achievements, he also told the Sunday Supplement that England haven't got the best out of him.
"Sir Alex (Ferguson) got the best out of him, with five titles and one European Cup," said Lewis. "But if England had achieved more, Rooney would have achieved more, he has been very unfortunate in that regard.
"A lot of people would like Rooney to inspire England in the same way he inspires Manchester United before they put him on a par with Sir Bobby.
"(But) he can do no more than score the goals he has and to score 49 goals for your country in any context is an outstanding achievement."
After making his debut for England as a 17-year-old in 2003, Rooney has gone on to win 106 caps and was named captain after the 2014 World Cup.
But The Sun's Martin Lipton questioned whether he will be viewed as an 'underachiever' on the international stage due to England's failures at major tournaments.
"The reality is his achievements will always be judged on whether he wins a trophy," he said. "I think he has proven himself to be an outstanding England player. He may not have been the player we thought he was going to be in 2004 but he has adapted, changed himself, delivered time and again and his record over the last few years is exceptional for England.
"However, until he is part of a successful England team he will forever be seen as an underachiever, just by the nature of football.
"He has been a brilliant England player and if the rest of the team around him hasn't been as good as the team around Charlton and (Gary) Lineker, that's not his fault. He can only play with the team he is in, he has been an outstanding England player."
Lipton also praised Rooney's goalscoring record, saying: "It's easy to say Rooney scored all these soft goals, but Charlton, great player he was, scored 15 against the Home Nations and five against Luxembourg.
"In every era you have teams you play a lot and score against. Rooney has scored more tournament goals than anyone other than Lineker."
