TERRY BUTCHER, the Motherwell manager and former England captain, believes that Sven-Göran Eriksson should not take Wayne Rooney to the World Cup. Eriksson is prepared to gamble on the Manchester United striker’s fitness, even after he broke a bone in his foot in Saturday’s 3-0 defeat by Chelsea.

“I wouldn’t take him. It would be a huge gamble. Even if he did play a part in the latter stages, with the injury he would only be a shadow of the Rooney we know. He would only be taking up a place,” Butcher said.

Butcher admitted that the injury is a devastating blow to England’s plans. “It’s sickening. When people were talking about whether the news that Eriksson was going would affect England’s World Cup plans, I said they should not worry about that— the only thing that would affect them would be an injury to Rooney,” he said.

“There has been a lot of gloomy talk — and rightly so. He is our one gem, who can transform matches or change games in the blink of an eye. I wouldn’t take him because in 2002 all the talk was about David Beckham’s injury.

“It might take a lot of pressure away from the other players because there will be so much hype and pressure on Wayne Rooney, who I feel will actually have no part to play for England in the tournament, but I wouldn’t take him.

“Beckham did his metatarsal seven-and-a-half weeks before the World Cup in 2002 and he was miles off the pace in that tournament. You have got to have really fit players out there because the demands on them are extraordinary.”

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