Funnyman Wayne Rooney can keep England laughing through the Euros, says Emile Heskey
WAYNE ROONEY will be the joker in Roy Hodgson’s pack this week as they try to beat the boredom at Euro 2016, according to ex-England striker Emile Heskey.
At Manchester United last season, shackled by Louis van Gaal’s pedestrian football, the Old Trafford skipper looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
The softly-spoken star struggled to explain why his side was limping along after a £250million makeover and he even had his place in the Three Lions team questioned.
But the former Everton man will be expected to fall back on his scouse roots and keep the wisecracks going to keep the squad cool before they face Iceland on Monday.
Speaking about the week before the clash, Heskey said: “Usually it’s three or four days. I am guessing it’s because of the more teams in the tournament that this is how it has worked out.
“We were never bored because he always thought up things that we could do together.
“That’s one thing, getting the togetherness. We would go shopping or to a restaurant, simple things that would be bring us together and help with the camaraderie.
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“Wayne’s a typical scouser, he’s a joker. Everything is a laugh so he is good to have around the place to get you going and give you a laugh.
“It’s all light-hearted so it’ll all be great for some of the lads. You don’t want it to be too serious.
“Even though it is a tournament you need to be able to have a bit of a laugh and a joke and he is that guy.”
Heskey and Rooney struck up a successful partnership during the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign under Italian manager Fabio Capello.
And he has watched as the one-time boy wonder grew into a man and now a midfielder.
The former Leicester and Liverpool striker – who encouraged current Foxes goal-getter Jamie Vardy to snub Arsenal this week – believes all the hype and expectation around Rooney for the last 15 years will help him handle the Euros and his young team-mates.
Heskey said: “Everyone changes and gets a bit better at talking and handling the media. That’s all you see with Wayne, he can speak more freely and explain things he wants to say.
“The good thing is he had it from a young age and he had a lot of it. He can educate a lot of the young lads coming through.
“He can tell them how he dealt with it, how they should deal with and what to do and what not to do He’s a good mentor for that.”
