Wayne Rooney Is Not the Solution to Man Utd's Central Midfield Problems

It’s not long since Wayne Rooney seemed to be on his way out of Old Trafford. Had Sir Alex Ferguson not retired when he did, the striker likely would have been sold by Manchester United, with Chelsea keen suitors. Now Rooney finds himself as United’s highest-paid player and the club’s captain. But his transformation goes deeper still.

With United’s midfield deficiencies exposed further by injuries to new signings Daley Blind and Ander Herrera, Rooney has been hastily drafted into the centre of midfield by Louis van Gaal. Rooney may still be a striker by trade, but right now he can be classed as a midfielder.

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United’s good run of form, which has taken Van Gaal’s side firmly into the top four in recent weeks, has coincided with Rooney’s conversion into a midfielder, with his recent performances hinting that the striker’s future could, in fact, be in the centre of the pitch.

Of course, Van Gaal isn’t the first to experiment with Rooney as a midfielder. It has long been mused that the striker would slip deeper and deeper down the pitch from his natural position as a striker as he ages, and now the process appears to have started.

Rooney’s display against Newcastle United on Boxing Day was his best as a midfielder to date, scoring twice, creating a third and generally controlling the tempo and direction of the contest from his new position in the centre of the pitch.

But against Spurs—a higher standard of opposition—Rooney struggled to have the same impact, with United missing his explosiveness and cutting edge in attack. How would he fare against Champions League opposition, for instance?

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In hindsight, Van Gaal should have moved him up front at some point during the second half at White Hart Lane. United needed his energy and gusto in the final third, where Rooney still plays his best football.

“I can also use him as a striker but for the team it’s better he plays in midfield at the moment,” explained Van Gaal following the Boxing Day win, as per BBC Sport. “He has the lung capacity to run 90 minutes as a midfielder.”

And yet there is something peculiar about the way Van Gaal has turned Rooney into a midfielder. The fallout between Rooney and Ferguson, which prompted talk of the striker’s possible exit from United just last year, was sparked by the former’s frustration at being repeatedly used as a midfielder.

So why is there no air of disgruntlement this time around? Has Rooney embraced the responsibility with which the captain’s armband has placed on him? Or is Van Gaal communicating the central midfielder role better to him than Ferguson ever did? Was Rooney’s discontent with a midfield role under Fergie a fabrication of the media or his agent, Paul Stretford?

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Perhaps the biggest myth about Rooney is that he is a technically exceptional player. Of course, he’s technically adequate, but his first touch is often abysmal, with his short passing game truly atrocious and fitness occasionally questionable. Hardly the qualities needed to play as a dynamic central midfielder. 

Rooney is often compared with Paul Scholes, who himself has suggested Rooney could become a midfielder in the latter years of his career, per Martin Lipton of the Daily Mirror. Perhaps such a comparison comes from both players’ capacity for searching, raked diagonal passes.

But while Scholes possessed the inherent presence and composure to control matches at the very highest level, Rooney certainly doesn’t. He may have some of the qualities that made Scholes the greatest midfielder of his generation, but Rooney is still fundamentally a striker, even when he’s played in midfield.

With Manchester United so desperately short of midfield options at present, it’s completely understandable that Rooney should be drafted in as cover, but Van Gaal should be wary of anointing him the long-term solution to the club’s central issues. Don’t be fooled. Rooney is not a midfielder.