Ronald Koeman has gone on to explain why he decided against appointing Wayne Rooney as the new Everton captain.

Rooney returned back to boyhood club Everton this summer amid much fanfare and considering his status as former captain of Manchester United as well as the England national team and it was widely expected that the 31-year-old would be handed a similar leadership role at Goodison Park for the upcoming campaign.

However, it has been revealed that Phil Jagielka remains the skipper of Everton, Gareth Barry his deputy, and Leighton Baines – the third in line.

Koeman said: "Even without the armband he is one of the captains in the team, because that's what he is used to doing. There were no reasons to change the ­captain, because I'm really happy with Phil and with Gareth and with Leighton. I'll leave it like this.

"Wayne is a captain on the pitch, he's a captain off the pitch and doesn't need the name of captain because he's that type of player who is always involved in ­making players better and involved in communication on the pitch."