Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney says he is looking forward to teaming up with Arsenal starlet Jack Wilshere again when the Three Lions' Euro 2012 qualifying campaign resumes in September.
Fabio Capello's men take on the Netherlands at Wembley in August in preparation for crucial qualifiers against Bulgaria, Wales and Montenegro that will decide whether England head to Poland and Ukraine for next summer's finals.
England currently top their group, but only on goal difference ahead of Montenegro, following a 2-2 draw at home to Switzerland in June - a game which Rooney missed through suspension.
And the 25-year-old, who has scored 26 times in 70 appearances for his country, is keen to resume his international partnership with Arsenal's fast-emerging talent Wilshere.
Wilshere burst onto the first-team scene at Emirates Stadium last season, returning from a successful loan spell at Bolton Wanderers to make 49 outings for the Gunners in all competitions in 2010/11.
The 19-year-old has won five caps for his country to date, but has only played alongside Rooney on two occasions - for 45 minutes in Denmark and 82 against Wales in Cardiff.
And Rooney, speaking exclusively in the September issue of FourFourTwo - out now - says he sees a bit of himself in the feisty Arsenal midfielder.
"I'm looking forward to playing with Jack Wilshere more, as we've only had a couple of games together so far," he says.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
"He's got a bit of fire in his belly, like me. It's important for a young player to have that desire.
"We're obviously in a good position to qualify, but there's no sense of putting the last World Cup right. If you go into tournaments thinking about negative things from the last one there's no benefit to you. If we prepare well, we will do well."
The September issue of FourFourTwo not only features interviews with Rooney, Javier Hernandez and Rafael Benitez, but you also get the world-famous Season Preview, and this year it is bigger and better than ever - a whopping great 132-pager.
What's in it? We analyse and rate (or slate) every single team from the Premier League to the Blue Square Bet Premier plus the SPL – and look at the top six European Leagues: Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal and Holland.Try digital version (or buy paper one)
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.
