Wayne Rooney in Midfield: Utd's Answer?

Passion, desire, hunger, skill, goals, lots of goals. That sums him up, Wayne Rooney. Since the 31st of August, 2004, Wayne Rooney has developed from a Manchester United wonder kid to a Manchester United legend. Since he burst onto the scene with a hat-trick on his Champions league and United debut, Rooney has assisted or scored on 354 occasions in just 461 appearances in competitive games for the club. He has won the Premier League 5 times, the League Cup 3 times and the Champions League once making him one of the most decorated English footballers in modern football.

It can be said that Rooney’s goal scoring hasn’t been the same since the 2011-12 where Rooney found the back of the net 34 times in just 43 appearances. Whilst also playing out of position to accommodate Van Persie and now more often Falcao, Rooney has directly contributed to 85 goals in 96 games.Sir Alex Ferguson always believed Rooney had a role in the centre of midfield and infrequently deployed Rooney in a midfield role on, albeit after late substitutions.Wayne Rooney recently showed off his prowess in midfield putting on a masterclass performance against Newcastle on Boxing Day, he scored 2 and assisted 1 in a 3-1 victory over Newcastle and didn’t put a foot wrong. In a post-match interview Louis Van Gaal said, “What more can you demand as a manager?”

One problem for Manchester United at the moment is a lack of creativity and the suspicion is that this is down to the 3-5-2 formation, currently favoured by the Dutch boss. If LVG does sign the players he’s targeting, then it is expected he’ll transform the formation to a 4-3-3 with Rooney the core of the midfield.With problems in the build-up play it is likely Rooney will be swapping between roles until the end of the season. At the start of the next season though with Van Gaal looking for some defenders and a winger, the 4-3-3 could be a pivotal alteration and step forward to achieve another Premier League.

With Rooney firing passes out wide to Di Maria and linking up with Van Persie, Mata, Falcao or whoever it may be, Wayne Rooney could well fill the gap left in the Manchester United team by Paul Scholes.With his coolness, high work-rate, accurate short and long passing as well as a tendency to mistime a tackles, Wayne Rooney has more than enough talent and experience to fill the Scholes-shaped gap Manchester United seem to have had for the last few years. Who knows, we may well hear “It’s Rooney you knoooow! Hard to believe it’s not Scholes”, sung round Old Trafford in years to come!