England manager Roy Hodgson believes that it was important to involve Wayne Rooney in the upcoming friendly against Scotland.

Rooney has missed Manchester United's pre-season campaign through injury, but Hodgson has stressed that it was important to include the forward ahead of England's World Cup qualifiers next month.

The former Fulham boss told Sky Sports News: "He's obviously not fully match-fit, but the important thing for me was to have him in the squad to assess how many minutes that he can play in the game.

"I've spoken to David Moyes, and he understands that it is important to have Wayne with us, and Wayne wants to be a part of the England set-up coming into these important qualifying games."

Hodgson has handed a first call-up to Southampton striker Rickie Lambert.