Wayne Rooney almost suffered career threatening cruciate ligament injury

Rooney sustained the knee injury playing against Sunderland on February 13.

Wayne Rooney will miss England’s friendlies against Germany and the Netherlands next month due to his knee injury, Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal told a British Sunday newspaper.

Rooney will also miss England’s friendlies with Germany and Holland as the Three Lions skipper fights to be fit for selection for the European Championships in June.

“He has a brace now and he has to wear it for two-and-a-half weeks, and then we have to look again”, the Dutch boss explained.

Hodgson will be hoping Rooney does not require an operation, as any such surgery could possibly force him out of Euro 2016. He has to first be ready for us, not the English team’.

“Now he is resting because of the brace”.

They have been drawn against West Ham in the FA Cup and rivals Liverpool in the Europa League.

While United manager Louis van Gaal has so far been unable to put a date on Rooney’s potential return to action, he did reveal during Friday’s press conference that the 30-year-old was wearing a brace in a bid to help fix the ligament damage.

As for his future at the club, I’ve made my opinion clear that I thought he’d leave in the summer but at that time I didn’t think Jose Mourinho was going to replace van Gaal.