Rooney is a key planner in England football set-up: Cole

London, Feb.23 (ANI): West Ham star Carlton Cole has revealed that Wayne Rooney is the head boy whenever boss Fabio Capello holds England team meetings.Cole played alongside the Manchester United maestro for a short time against Slovakia at Wembley 11 months ago and has seen enough of him in international training camps to realise the enormous influence he has both on and off the pitch.

Rooney made his England debut at 17 in 2003, the youngest-ever new boy until Arsenal's Theo Walcott broke his record by 36 days.

Now, England manager Capello holds 24-year-old Rooney's opinions in high regard. Whenever he calls meetings with senior players like Frank Lampard, John Terry and David James, Rooney is there too.

Cole, yet to score for his country in six appearances, told The Sun: "Since I've been in the national team, you can see he's one of the chief boys. He's always in the meetings with the seniors." (ANI)