Man Utd legend Ferdinand: Don’t write off Rooney just yet

United boss Jose Mourinho left out the long standing United servant when they took on Leicester City at the weekend, and it was a display that saw a dominant United demolish last season’s champions, easing to a 4-1 victory.

“It looks like the beginning of the end for Wayne Rooney”.

Wayne Rooney will not be recalled to the Manchester United starting line-up for Sunday’s Premier League home clash with Stoke City.

So Mourinho must not have envisaged Mata being a first-choice player six league games into his reign at Old Trafford.

The frank exchange of words is said to have come in training on the Monday after the 2-1 derby defeat to Man City earlier this month, wherein Rooney tore into the other players at half time for their abject performances. United were threatening on the counter attack, and played with great fluidity.

As reported in the Mirror, Rooney will not leave the Old Trafford side just because he is off the first team picture.

Instead Zlatan Ibrahimovic retained his place at centre-forward, and Mourinho fielded the pace of Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard out wide. But that is what he is: He has to be one of the first names on the team sheet.

If he continues to go down the same path as his club captain, he will break loads of records, win loads of trophies and generally be considered one of the world’s leading footballers for more than a decade.

Now, despite Jose Mourinho’s best efforts, Wayne Rooney has been dropped and the effect has been magnificent.

Playing Fellaini with Pogba was also not working as the midfielders were constantly gave space to the opposition players which forced Shaw to take up positions in the middle of the park, often leaving the flanks vacated.

He opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a typically predatory finish, turning inside the penalty area and driving his shot under Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.

As the fourth best striking option and the fourth-best No. 10 option, Rooney no longer deserves to play in either role for Manchester United.