Thierry Henry says Wayne Rooney must go to Euro 2016 but it may come too soon for Marcus Rashford

Thierry Henry has insisted Wayne Rooney must go to Euro 2016 with England this summer, but believes the captain is no longer a guaranteed starter for his country.

The Sky Sports pundit considers Rooney to be an important part of Roy Hodgson's squad, but the form of other strikers means he is no longer guaranteed a place in the starting XI, at least not as the main striker.

"I don't even know why there was a question of him going to the Euros or not," Henry told Sky Sports Now. "Now the question is if he is going to start. Should he start? Play on the left? Play behind the striker?

"You can't also deny that there is an understanding with [Harry] Kane and Dele Alli. Is Alli going to play No 10 with Kane and whoever is on the wing? It's a tough one, because you don't want [Rooney] on the wings anymore, that is for sure.

"Rooney has 51 goals for the national team. He is their leader, they respect him, so he needs to be in and around the squad.

"Now there is a Tottenham influence in the team so do you want to go with that or change it? [Hodgson] knows what's working and what worked during qualifying, and Rooney was very good in that.

"That's the type of headache you want to have."

Henry believes the tournament may come too soon for Marcus Rashford to be considered for an England call-up, despite his impressive run of form at Manchester United with seven goals in 13 appearances in all competitions this season.

The former France international said some experience at youth international level would benefit the 18-year-old.

"First and foremost I would like to say I'm a big fan of the kid," Henry said. "I like the way he plays, he's direct, he thinks about his movement, he's always in the box.

"But I think there is a path. Before I went to the national team I went in with the Under-21s, I played a tournament with the Under-18s and I went to the Under-20 World Cup."

"There is a way to do it, then you have guys like [Michael] Owen and Rooney that will just go through because they're special and went on to prove it was right.

"I think it will do [Rashford] good to have a tournament with the U21s or U19s or whatever it's going to be. But, I also think, if someone is injured, is he going to be the next one on the list? Who knows..."