Gary Lineker believes Rooney has to 'rank right up there' with England's finest

English footballer-turned TV personality Gary Lineker is of the opinion that Wayne Rooney deserves to be recognised as one of England's greatest players.

Rooney would win his 100th cap against Slovenia on Saturday and is the fourth highest England goalscorer, and Lineker claims that the Manchester United forward has to rank right up there in the pantheon of English football's finest.

Lineker, England's former captain, said that Rooney has scored 40-odd goals for his country and has been a consistent performer, The BBC reported.

Rooney became England's youngest debutant when he won his first cap at the age of 17 against Australia in February 2003, a record since broken by Theo Walcott, but remains the youngest player to start an England international.

Having been hailed as England's player of Euro 2004 when he scored four goals before breaking his foot as England lost to Portugal in the quarterfinals, Rooney was criticised for failing to produce at major tournaments, and took until his third World Cup to score in the competition.

Lineker said that it has not quite happened for Rooney in major tournaments for various reasons, barring the first one, where he exploded on to the scene in 2004 and played so well.

He added that the current skipper has very rarely gone to a major tournament in prime condition, while on other occasions the team has not performed that well.

Lineker said that there is no doubt Rooney is a great player, adding that the forward is brilliant at finding space and dropping deep. He also said that Rooney is a good all-round footballer and scores plenty of goals.