James Milner insists that Wayne Rooney is fully focused on playing for England, despite allegations about his private life.
City star insists United ace is okay
James Milner insists that Wayne Rooney is fully focused on playing for England.
Rooney is set to travel with the rest of the Three Lions squad to Switzerland ahead of their Euro 2012 qualifier on Tuesday, despite allegations about his personal life being printed in a number of Sunday newspapers.
It had been suggested that Rooney may pull out, but the Football Association have insisted there is no indication of this and the Manchester United star took a full part in training on Sunday.
Milner faced the media after training and was grilled about Rooney, but he insisted he was focussed on producing another top performance for his country after starring in their 4-0 win over Bulgaria on Friday.
"He did the full session, we are back to football which is what we are here to do," Milner said on
Sky Sports News.
"I think he is one of the best players on the field as he showed the other night, he is a top-top player and we want to put out the best team possible.
"He is a top-player, he showed that on Friday and he trained fully today, you will have to ask him any other questions."
Milner says that he and his England team-mates try not to let any press reports get to them.
"We have got to make sure things don't [effect us], things are always said in the papers, good things, bad things, that is part and parcel of football and we have to make sure the only things that matter happens on the pitch," he continued.
"We are here to win a football match, we had a good result on Friday and we want a good result Tuesday.
"I think it is important to win football matches, that is what we are here and control ourselves on the field and off the field as well as we can.
"We've all trained as a squad in preparation for the game on Tuesday. It's a big game, and it's down to us go out and get the right result."
Versatility
Milner played on the left side of midfield against Bulgaria, which saw Steven Gerrard switch to his preferred central role and the Manchester City star has no qualms about playing there.
"Whatever is best for the team, to be part of that is great and a player of Steven Gerrard's quality wants to be more where he can get involved so it worked pretty well," he said.
"It was a good performance, it was all about the result but to get a performance too is nice.
"We went through qualification for the World Cup quite well and hopefully we can do the same for Euro 2012.
"They are obviously a good team, we know it is going to be tough but every away game in qualification is tough."
