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Rooney was dropped from the starting team for England's World
Cup qualifier draw with Slovenia this month and has been used as
a substitute by United manager Jose Mourinho.
Despite Rooney's lack of playing time, Southgate suggested the
31-year-old will be part of England's squad for the World Cup
qualifier against Scotland on Nov. 11 and the friendly against
Spain four days later.
"He's the England captain and although he didn't start in
Slovenia, to me he is a hugely influential person in that group
and that won't change," Southgate told British media.
"Let's see what that scenario is but I thought his leadership
qualities in the 10 days with us shone through.
"I haven't spoken to him since the camp but I'm always conscious
players are back into a run of fixtures with their clubs, but I
will pick up with him and the others later."
Marcus Rashford has been called up for both England's under-21s
and the senior side in the past and is backed to replace United
team mate Rooney in England's senior team.
Mourinho, however, rejected the idea of him playing for the
under-21 side saying it would make "no sense" if the 18-year-old
has already established himself in the senior side.
Southgate admitted the youngster should be viewed as somewhere
in "between".
"There is a point where young players are still viewed as being
part of the development teams," he said.
"There's also a point where we have to decide if they are still
in development teams and is that going to benefit them or have
they moved through it? As we have seen in the last couple of
months Marcus is between the two.
"We have to wait and see what it looks like as we move forward.
Everything I have seen Jose say is perfectly reasonable."
(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; editing by
Sudipto Ganguly)
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