Fabio Capello has travelled 6,000 miles to pass on his wisdom to the young football wannabes of Lesotho, but yesterday the England manager felt moved to offer a few words of advice to Wayne Rooney, a genuine protégé who needs to relax in front of the net if he is to prove himself as a reliable goalscorer at international level.

Rooney is one of the few players whose performances have made a profound impact on Capello since the former AC Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid coach took charge of the England team in January, but the Manchester United forward's perceived lack of composure in front of goal is troubling the Italian. Whereas Sven-Göran Eriksson, the former England head coach, described the young Rooney as “so very cold” in terms of temperament, Capello appears less convinced, characterising the 22-year-old as prone to rushes of blood to the head when given a run on goal.

The comments about Rooney were offered willingly as Capello strode the pitch at the Bambatha Tsita Sports Arena, headquarters of the Lesotho FA. He was there to oversee a coaching clinic as an illustration of the FA's “special relationship” with its counterparts in Lesotho, a relationship that is evidently treasured in a country that is surrounded in its entirety by South Africa and has a population of two million, many of them living in poverty. The Lesotho FA even offered the England manager what it called “the perfect base” for the 2010 World Cup finals, but Capello is more concerned with getting to South Africa - and on helping Rooney to improve on a relatively modest return of 14 goals in 42 appearances for the national team.

“I'm confident that he [Rooney] still has a lot of improvement ahead of him,” Capello said through an interpreter. “He's very good in every aspect, but the one thing he needs to improve - and can improve and will improve - is that in every game he has a lot of goalscoring chances and he doesn't take them, or he takes nowhere near as many as he should.

“I'm sure he will improve. He is young. I spoke to Rooney and I think technically he is very strong, very good. What he needs is to be more relaxed in front of goal - not to have this obsession with scoring. It's true he is not scoring many goals at the moment, but he has chances. And a player who has chances, sooner or later, is going to start scoring. I have seen a few players who have looked like they were never going to become goalscorers, but at 26 years of age they start scoring goals. It depends on how relaxed and confident you are in front of goal. I'm much more wary of forwards who don't get chances. If you don't get chances, you are not going to score many goals.”

Capello's comments call to mind Glenn Hoddle's infamous claim, which he later sought to clarify, that Michael Owen was “not a natural goalscorer”, but his appraisal of Rooney appears reasonable. Rooney has scored only 11 goals in the Barclays Premier League this season. A recent flurry of four goals in three matches followed a sequence of seven matches without a goal for club or country, while in the recent home victories against Liverpool and Arsenal he missed at least two clear-cut chances.

Rooney, though, is one of the few England players who is assured of a place in the squad for the immediate and the long term, with Capello yesterday confirming last month's Times report that he regards the youngster as a future captain of the national team. Again there was a lack of encouragement for John Terry, who is aggrieved at being told that he must “win back” the captaincy as Capello ponders the claims of Rio Ferdinand, Gareth Barry and others. Capello denied yesterday that Terry was being punished for an off-the-field indiscretion, when he left his car in a disabled parking space last month (“it is a mistake he made, but not something I get angry about”), but it is clear that the Chelsea defender has much to prove if he is to press home his claims for the captaincy.

Numerous England players remain on trial - perhaps not least Owen, who did not start either of the new manager's first two matches, and Frank Lampard, who missed both games because of injury - and it is clear that Capello will not look kindly on any withdrawals from the team's final two friendly matches of the season, at home to the United States on May 28 and away to Trinidad & Tobago on June 1.

“If a player doesn't love to play for England, perhaps he should stay at home,” Capello said. “If someone doesn't want to come and play for England, it means they obviously don't love the England shirt enough and they must prefer to be on holiday.”

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