Gareth Southgate: Squad decided that Wayne Rooney should wear England's No10 shirt against USA

Southgate said Rooney was one of England's three best players over the last 30 years alongside Paul Gascoigne and Paul Scholes

The England squad have decided that Wayne Rooney will wear the number 10 shirt for his farewell game at Wembley tomorrow, even though he is due to start on the bench.

Gareth Southgate revealed at his Wembley press conference this afternoon what England will do for Rooney in the Wayne Rooney Foundation International against the United States.

Rooney will get a guard of honour from his England team-mates, and from his sons, before the game, and will be presented a memento by Football Association chairman Gregg Clarke. He will be given the captain’s armband by Fabian Delph when he does come on. And he will wear the no10 shirt even though he is due to start on the bench.

England's players will give Rooney a guard of honour before the game (Getty)

England manager Southgate confirmed that this was because the rest of the squad decided that Rooney should get to wear his iconic England shirt number for the last time. “The players are very keen that Wayne wears the number 10,” Southgate said. “All of our group have huge respect for Wayne. They feel that it is fitting his last game should be in his number 10, for when he puts that shirt on his wall somewhere at the end of his career.”

Southgate revealed that this particular idea came from Harry Kane, Rooney’s successor as England captain. “Harry came to see me and said: 'Look, we don't think it would be right for him to come on wearing a shirt he hasn't worn.' Part of the game is to pay tribute to what he's done. There's no rulebook. Who decides? We've talked about doing things our own way. We can do things our own way.”

Rooney will speak to the England players at length before the game and will present first ever England shirts to the likely debutants Callum Wilson, Lewis Dunk and Alex McCarthy in goal. “We will have some debuts and Wayne is going to present the shirts to the debutants tomorrow, and I have asked him to talk to the guys about a couple of areas in particular. A lot of that has taken place with the more formal part tomorrow.”

Brighton's Lewis Dunk may make his debut along with Callum Wilson and Alex McCarthy (Getty)

That marks a continuation of Southgate’s policy of having England legends handing out shirts to debutants.

“We’ve done that for the last 18 months,” Southgate said. “Glenn Hoddle did Michael Keane, Ian Wright did Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham. Paul Parker came in, Lee Dixon did Kieran Trippier and Trent Alexander-Arnold got Prince William. It’s a big moment in a player’s life.”

Southgate said that Rooney’s ability to make the difference made him one of the three best England players of 30 years of Southgate’s own career.

“There have been brilliant players I played with,” Southgate said. “It doesn't seem right to leave Frank Lampard, David Beckham, Teddy Sheringham and Alan Shearers out of the list. But for me Paul Gascoigne, Paul Scholes and Rooney were just able to do that little bit more than all of the others. They were incredible players across that period, they were almost three different moments. I played with Wayne at the start of his career. For him to go on and overtake Sir Bobby Charlton’s record and Gary Lineker’s record is incredible.”