Last Updated: December 28, 2022, 15:59 IST
FILE – Former Manchester United player Wayne Rooney attends the Europa League final soccer match between Manchester United and Villarreal in Gdansk, Poland on May 26, 2021. Rooney has agreed to be D.C. United’s next coach, a person with knowledge of the move said. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday, July 10, 2022, because the deal had not been announced. (Aleksandra Szmigiel/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Manchester United have been showing improvement in results under Erik Ten Hag, the Dutchman has a huge job in leading a seamless transition phase in the side, which he had said would run into months, not weeks
Wayne Rooney, the all-time highest goal-scorer for Premier League club Manchester United, believes the club has been trying to find solutions to solving their transition period issue though he admitted that it is taking longer than expected.
Manchester United have a new manager in Erik Ten Hag, and while the club has been showing improvement in results, the Dutchman has a huge job in leading a seamless transition phase in the side, which he had said would run into months, not weeks.
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“I think they’ve gone through a transition and it maybe lasted a lot longer than what we all thought,” said Rooney in an upcoming episode of the Home of Heroes show on Sports18, set to be aired on December 29.
Rooney also believes that the club can go back to its old glory with Ten Hag at the helm.
“I feel with Ten Hag that they are on a good step and they gradually can go back to what it was of the old and it would be difficult of course, you can’t replace one of the, if not the greatest manager of all time (in Sir Alex Ferguson),” he said.
The former English player, who now is a manager in the U.S. rated England’s national coach Gareth Southgate highly despite them not getting into the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
“Gareth is doing a great job of being flexible with the players. He’s promoting a lot of youth, a lot of players in those from youth ultimately are on the 21-member team as well,” Rooney said.
Asked if he would like to coach if the England manager job comes to him, the 37-year-old said, “You never know one day in the future if it’s a possibility, but at this moment, my priority would be on being a club manager.”
Rooney also emphasised that there is no one in the football circuit currently who can replace what Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have achieved in their careers.
“(Erling) Haaland and (Kylian) Mbappe, of course, the next two, at this moment of time, they’re obviously better than Messi and Ronaldo. But for them to emulate the career that Messi and Ronaldo have had I can’t see it like, I can’t see.
What Messi and Ronaldo have done is very unique in the world of football. For Messi and Ronaldo to do it in the same time in the same league for a long time, I don’t think we’ll see that again,” concluded Rooney.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)
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