John Barnes has told Sports Mole that talk of Wayne Rooney's place in the England team being under threat is "nonsense".

Despite the fact that the Manchester United frontman is his country's fifth leading goalscorer of all time and at the age of 28 has been tipped to break Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 49 goals before he retires, Rooney's performances at major tournaments from the 2006 World Cup onwards have been heavily criticised.

It has resulted in reports that if he were to perform poorly against Italy in Manaus tomorrow night, manager Roy Hodgson may consider dropping Rooney to the bench for the second group game against Uruguay next Thursday.

However, former Liverpool and England winger Barnes has insisted that along with captain Steven Gerrard, Rooney is "the most important player" to the Three Lions.

"It's nonsense – he's the most important player. We are not going to outplay teams and you know that we are going to have a lot of defending to do from the front. They are going to have to make good decisions and compete and Rooney does all that. As well as having the most quality, Rooney works hard and along with Gerrard, they are the two most important players. They have to be in the team every single game," said the 50-year-old.

Another United player that has seen his role in the team questioned is Danny Welbeck, who is expected to be fit to face the Italians despite suffering a thigh injury in training earlier this week.

Following an indifferent campaign at Old Trafford, some fans have urged Hodgson to replace Welbeck with Liverpool youngster Raheem Sterling.

However, Barnes believes that 23-year-old Welbeck has found it easier to fulfill his potential with England than he has done for his club side since he made his international debut in a friendly against Ghana at Wembley back in 2011.

"Very few players do better for their country than they do for their club, but remember Darius Vassell - he weighed in with some important performances for England and Welbeck is like that. Playing international football for England is suited to a player that is quick, can chase up and down and is very good defensively despite being an attacking player," Barnes added.

"He can run with the ball and is strong, whereas with Manchester United, you are expected to have most of the ball, dominate possession and be attacking all the time. However, England are a counter-attacking team that need hard working players. He's always done well for England."

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Barnes told us that youngsters Sterling and Ross Barkley would best be used in Brazil as impact substitutes.

John Barnes was speaking at the launch of ESPN FC's partnership with TfL to provide live score updates on the Tube throughout the World Cup.