England manager Roy Hodgson has said that he is extremely confident that the Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney can be even more beneficial to the team if he is used in a deeper role.

The 26-year-old striker is regarded as one of the best in the world when it comes to finishing. However, he has had a poor record when it comes to performing for the England national team. He recently scored his first goal in a major tournament after a gap of eight years.

However, it was not enough to get England past the quarter-final stage once again, as they fluttered to a defeat against Italy at this stage in the Euro 2012.
Speaking ahead of the friendly match against Italy, the manager has said that he is willing to utilise the Manchester United striker in a more deeper role in the upcoming matches in order to get the best out of him. Even though Wayne Rooney is regarded as a striker, he has often been used by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson in the past as a winger. Due to his defence side of the game, Wayne Rooney can track the opposition in order to prevent them from scoring.

"There is a slight difference in respect of Cleverley spending most of his career in central midfield, whilst Wayne has played a lot as an attacker, but it is a fairly small nuance. There is nothing to stop Wayne Rooney playing in that position. He would be very good at it. The major point is the quality of passes we get through to that player, the movement of the front player and what we get out of the wide players," said Hodgson. England will be playing against Bulgaria in one of the World Cup qualifying matches in September.