London, Nov 21 Ace striker Wayne Rooney has been hailed as a future permanent captain for Manchester United and England by the club's manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

Rooney led England in the 0-1 friendly defeat to Brazil last weekend and Ferguson said the United striker has what it takes to be a long-term leader for club and country.

"You can see the qualities Wayne would bring to the captaincy. His determination, his hunger and his desire to do well. He always tries, no matter how the team is playing. He always gives 100 per cent and these are wonderful qualities for a captain," Ferguson said.

"He exemplifies the spirit of the whole team and other players can take that on board. So there are good reasons for making him captain. I think Fabio Capello made him England captain against Brazil because Wayne was the one regular player left. That was the key to it," The Mirror quoted him, as saying.

"But top players can take that responsibility. They've got their ego, reputation and pride to defend in that respect. As captain, you don't want to let anyone down. And Wayne would be very much like that.

"I've never been a real advocate of centre-forwards being captain, even though Eric Cantona did a fantastic job for us. You tend to look at central defenders, midfielders or even goalkeepers. But there was one game when we were short of Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand and Edwin Van Der Sar," Ferguson said. (ANI)