Neville On Rooney's Future

Gary Neville says Wayne Rooney will have a decision to make about his future role at Manchester United as he goes through a transitional phase in his career.

The United captain was dropped to the bench for the 4-1 win over Leicester on Saturday at Old Trafford, coming on for the last seven minutes of the game.

Jose Mourinho insisted Rooney was still "his man" at United, but Neville says the 30-year-old may have to adapt his game in the same way the likes of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs did in order to prolong his Old Trafford career.

He said on the Gary Neville Podcast: "This is a transition into a new phase of his career, where he's potentially got to play a different way.

"No player at 22 is the same at 32, 33, 34. If you look at Paul Scholes, he went from a marauding midfield to a holding midfield player, Steven Gerrard the same, 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 Wayne Rooney 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."

Rooney has been criticised in recent weeks for his performances as United struggled for form over the last fortnight, but Neville insists one player does not make the entire team play poorly.

While Neville admits Rooney's approach to his role at United needs analysing, the former Old Trafford defender insists there should be no knee-jerk reactions to their performance without the England skipper.

"It is a big call to leave Rooney out. I know Jose said it's a normal thing, but it is a big call. He's a big personality, it brings headlines.

"If United lose today it comes with criticism. The fact they've won 4-1 it's the perfect day for Jose Mourinho.

"It's become a distraction away from the main issue, and that is that no individual causes a whole team to play poorly. I know there will be those today who will react to the win and say: 'Look how well we played without Rooney.'

"But that's not the reality of it. There's a long way to go yet for a lot of these Manchester United players who played well today."

Credit: Skysports.com