Gareth Southgate revealed that Fabian Delph will captain England in the friendly against the United States at Wembley on Thursday.

A lot of the attention in the build-up has been around the decision to award Wayne Rooney the chance to wave farewell to the international scene, and while England’s record-goalscorer will take the armband at some point on the night, it will be Delph who leads his country for the first time.

“Fabian is captain tomorrow night, and the players are keen that Wayne wears the number 10 and we believe that is a fitting tribute,” said Southgate.

“Fabian is captaining his country for the first time and it is brilliant reward for him. He is an outstanding player and outstanding person.

“He is a huge leader within our group and I have really enjoyed working with him. You don’t give the England captaincy to someone unless you really think they can carry it and he has those outstanding attributes.

“He was one of the big reasons we were successful (in the summer).”