Coleen Rooney has lost a bid to bring a High Court claim against Rebekah Vardy’s agent as part of a legal battle between the footballers’ wives over an online post.

Mrs Vardy, 39, sued Mrs Rooney, 35, for libel after she publicly accused her of leaking stories about her private life to The Sun.

The wife of former England star Wayne Rooney carried out a months-long “sting operation” in which she posted fake stories on her personal Instagram page in a bid to catch out the culprit – earning the nickname “Wagatha Christie”.

She eventually pointed the finger at Vardy, the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie, who denies the allegations.

Mrs Rooney’s lawyers previously claimed that Mrs Vardy had leaked information to the newspaper either directly or through her agent Caroline Watt.

Mrs Rooney is bringing a claim against Ms Watt for misuse of private information and during a hearing last week, she had asked for this to be attached to the libel claim.

Her barrister David Sherborne told the court that, if Mrs Vardy wins her claim on the basis that she was not the person who leaked the information, then Mrs Rooney will be left without “vindication” unless she is able to bring the claim against Ms Watt as part of the same case.

Mrs Vardy’s lawyers had opposed the application to add the claim against Ms Watt to the libel case.

“If the defendant had genuinely wished to bring a misuse of private information claim against Ms Watt in order to vindicate her rights this claim could have been brought 15 months ago,” Mr Tomlinson said.

Ms Watt’s representative, Ian Helme, had also opposed the application, saying his client had given “clear and consistent” denials against the allegations.