Rooney has no intention of leaving United – report
Wayne Rooney wants to see out the rest of his current Manchester United deal despite Jose Mourinho’s decision to drop him from his starting XI, according to reports.
Rooney was left out of the line-up that impressively defeated Leicester City 4-1 on Saturday thanks to goals from Chris Smalling, Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba.
The England captain, who has two years left on his contract at Old Trafford, is likely to be thrust back into the team for the Red Devils’ Europa League tie with Ukrainian side Zorya Luhansk on Thursday, but his role as top dog at United could be over.
The Daily Mirror claims that Rooney has no plans to leave the club even though he isn’t guaranteed a starting spot in Mourinho’s team.
And, despite rumours of interest from Major League Soccer, the newspaper reports that people close to the striker reckon he will choose to see out the final years of his deal at Old Trafford.
.@JuanMata8 says the fans deserved yesterday's performance at Old Trafford… #MUFC pic.twitter.com/CCZyQyVYLg
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 25, 2016
Sky Sports pundit and former United defender Gary Neville thinks Rooney needs to adjust his game if he is to get back into the team under Mourinho.
“This is a transition into a new phase of his career, where he’s potentially got to play a different way,” said Neville.
“No player at 22 is the same at 32, 33, 34.
“If you look at Paul Scholes, he went from a marauding midfielder to a holding midfield player, Steven Gerrard the same, Ryan Giggs from a flying winger to a central midfield player.
“Rooney’s going through that period now. I think potentially there will be a little bit of relief for him, in the sense of the scrutiny around him in the last week.
“It’s how he reacts to it.
“There will come a point where he will have to make that decision of either playing every week or coming to that point in his career where he may come out of the team one week, then go back in and adapt to that type of position.”