A day in the life of... Wayne Rooney

7.34am: Wayne Rooney wakes up and starts the day just as he always has since his improvement in form. Having struggled in the first half of the season, he was now on porridge, followed by a couple of poached eggs. It appeared to be working, as until his injury in February he was playing the best football in his recent career, certainly in the last two seasons. He was no longer a passenger, but a worthwhile member of the team. He hoped he would be able to lead by example for England, not just by words.

9:05am: Now, though, he considers, the injury means he will have to make sure he is in prime condition for the last few matches of the season, to give himself the best chance of performing for England and to get into peak fitness. It often takes him a few weeks to get up to speed from an injury, but with this being perhaps his last tournament for England, and with the Manchester United scoring record in touching distance, he knows he cannot take any chances. He’d recently had an extraordinary offer from the Chinese Super League, but before he would even consider leaving United, he wanted to make sure his legacy was established. That carries him through his session at the gym, aimed to speed up his recovery from his knee injury while improving his physique in other ways.

10.17am: Taking his cue from Ryan Giggs and other, older players he’d been team-mates with, Rooney even goes through a few yoga poses, in order to make sure his boxer’s body will last into his mid-thirties.

11:02am: After a comprehensive warm-down and a protein shake, Rooney watches a tape of Marcus Rashford’s performance for the England Under-20 side. As captain, and as the senior striker in the team, he’d given Rashford advice on finishing, and on not losing the fearlessness of youth that allowed him to demolish Martin Demichelis in such a high-pressure environment. Ever since he’d made the step up to the first team, he’d seen flashes of his old self in Rashford’s willingness to commit defenders and not over-think chances when they came to him. It had made him realise how much he had gained, and also lost, by developing his style with injuries, age and experience.

1:30pm: Rooney then reads a few of the sports sections of the papers and sees that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is linked with a move to United in a couple of them. Not just speculative tabloid stuff, but from respected journalists. A few key points from the reports stay with him for the next hour or so, and he can't quite shift them from the back of his mind. Ibrahimovic, apparently, is the kind of superstar that Ed Woodward wants to deliver to the club, to shift shirt sales and to lead the commercial efforts of the first team. Secondly, he saw that Ibrahimovic would be wanted by the new manager - or the one who was expected, anyway - Jose Mourinho. Nowhere was his name mentioned as a potential shirt-seller, or as someone Mourinho was desperately keen to work with.

1:52pm: He then remembers the time he almost joined Chelsea, months after Alex Ferguson had pushed him closer to the exit than he’d ever been. How he’d wanted to escape Manchester and try something else now that he didn’t think he had the confidence of Ferguson; how it would be his last chance for a big move, to achieve something else. Then he considers how he eventually became captain of Manchester United, signing a huge contract, and was now on the cusp of becoming the leading scorer for the club. And then he looks at the pictures of Ibrahimovic, and watches all the goals he’s scored for PSG this season on YouTube.

2:45pm: Ibrahimovic is 34 but still strong, still able to move out of tight spots, with a sense of vision and guile that has deserted Rooney, not strengthened in him. He makes a resolution to himself that he will remain committed to his rehab to make sure that he finishes his career as strongly as Ibrahimovic, and to use the Euro 2016 tournament to impress Mourinho, or whoever United’s next manager will be. He turns on the television to watch a replay of the England friendly against Germany.

3:57pm: Rooney watches Harry Kane’s equaliser, and can’t help but be inspired by the Cruyff turn that makes room for the finish. Jamie Vardy’s near post flick, too, reminds him of the spark of excitement that he is trying to claw back into his own game, and Eric Dier’s winner sparks a sense of envy in him, about what it is like to be part of an exciting, confident and aggressive team. He starts to wonder, though, where he fits in the plans of Roy Hodgson for England, and for Mourinho at United. He feels his knee twinge, and calls up his agent. “So, how much were China offering me?”