Rooney blames Man Utd struggles on two transfers

Wayne Rooney thinks Man Utd “still haven’t recovered” from the sales of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez over a decade ago.

The club’s biggest loss was undoubtedly Sir Alex Ferguson, who retired in 2013 after 27 years at the Old Trafford helm.

However, Rooney thinks it was a “miracle” that Man Utd won the Premier League title in Ferguson’s final year after Ronaldo and Tevez left, with the club having Robin Van Persie to thank for the triumph.

Premier League winners and losers (FA Cup edition)

Rooney told the Daily Mirror: “You could see after 2011; Ronaldo left in 2009, Tevez left and after that you could see it was going to go backwards before it can move forwards.

“That’s what I could see and that’s why I was asking the questions. Unfortunately, they probably still haven’t recovered from that to this day.

“It wasn’t a great team in 2013. For us to win that League title was a miracle, really, I think.

“A massive part of it was Van Persie. I think him coming in gave everyone a lift, coming in at number nine, scoring the goals he scored.

“That was a bit of a masterstroke from the manager, to bring him in and have him hungry because he was a bit older as well. He really carried us that season.”

Meanwhile, Rooney revealed in an interview with the Mail on Sunday that he used to have two-day drinking binges as he struggled to cope with his fame at Man Utd.

Rooney said: “I would actually lock myself away and just drink to try to take all that away from my mind.

“Locking myself away made me forget some of the issues I was dealing with. It was like a binge. Normally, that’s with a group of lads but this was a self-binge.

“I’d get a couple of days off and I wouldn’t want to be near anyone. I would sit in the house and for two days, I would just drink.”

“Then on the third day, when I was back in training, I would have to dust myself down and put eye drops in and get through that week’s training. I was in a really bad place.”