Wayne Rooney will emulate Gazza at the World Cup... by being the England's training camp live-wire.

The Manchester United striker hates staying in his room alone, and devotes his spare time to buzzing around and raising spirits of his team-mates, according to Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard.

At Italia 90, Gascoigne famously drove Sir Bobby Robson to distraction with his energy. His escapades included unscheduled trips to the beach to do card tricks for the locals with Chris Waddle, and a marathon tennis match with American tourists in the blazing sun just hours before a game.

Rooney is unlikely to go to such extremes under Fabio Capello's stern regime in South Africa, but Lampard has revealed he is the squad's "main character" and an asset off the pitch.

Capello's men will have a games room and internet access to help kill time, and they will work through a massive collection of DVDs on the trip which sees them fly out to their training base tonight and could end with the World Cup final on July 11.

Lampard says Capello's routine is not a "complete army camp" and that England stars will be keeping tabs on the reaction to performances back home.

He said: "Wayne Rooney is full of energy and not just on the pitch. Some players go back to their rooms and watch films all day, but Rooney is never in his room!

"He's always bouncing around chatting to people, having his bit of fun. I'm sure he's desperate to get out there. He'll talk about anything. He loves talking about football but he'll talk about anything and everything.

"You need people like that in the camp because it's not easy being stuck in a hotel all day. He's the main character - you can always hear his voice."

Lampard added in Match of the Day magazine: "I certainly want to keep up with the mood outside our camp - I don't like the idea of being cut off completely from the outside world! We've got our laptops, so we're on the internet. We're allowed things like that - it's not a complete army camp."

Lampard is also let his imagination run wild when thinking about the tournament, and is anxious to make up for not scoring in Germany four years ago.

Asked if he ever dreams of scoring the goal that wins the World Cup, Lampard said: "Yes, of course. We all have our little dreams. Fantasies where we sit down and think about scoring the winning goal in a World Cup final. I was disappointed not to score last time, so the buzz this time will probably be a bit more because it's been a long time coming."