Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has hinted
that Wayne Rooney's time as a starting striker for the club
could be running out, talking ahead of Sunday's
Manchester derby at Old Trafford.
Rooney turned 30 on Saturday and has been going
through something of a lean patch when it comes to
goalscoring so far this season, scoring just twice in ten full
matches in the Premier League and Champions League
this season.
He did notch for United against Everton last weekend, with
Van Gaal noting his speed of thought in noticing the
opportunity presenting itself and saying: “If you go at the
right time, you are always faster than your opponent.”
Nevertheless, the Dutchman has also spoken about
Rooney's declining pace which has seen him missing the
explosive bursts of speed which typified the United
captain's performances earlier in his career.
Quoted in the Telegraph, Van Gaal said: “As a striker it is
always more difficult because your freshness as a player is
not so easy to maintain. As a striker you get a lot of kicks
but he is very strong so he can do the job. But as a striker
you also need always your highest speed because we live
in the time that we have small spaces so speedy acting,
dealing with the ball, is always at the highest level.”
It's been suggested for a while that Rooney move into a
deeper-lying midfield role, although he's thought to be
opposed to the idea as he enjoys playing up front too
much, and Van Gaal appeared to endorse that suggestion.
He said: “In midfield you can read the game and that is
why you have more space to play football. And then you
don’t need so speedy handling with the ball or speed to
run off your defender, because that space is like that and
in midfield it is like that.”
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