Does Wayne Rooney Have a Future Under Jose Mourinho at Manchester United?

In October 2010, Wayne Rooney surprisingly made it known he was frustrated at Manchester United’s failure to sign world-class players.

The England captain also declared his intent to leave United, as he had not been given assurances the club would seek to sign some of the world’s leading footballers.

The message from Rooney was clear: You’re no longer ambitious enough for me.

It was an unusual step, unprecedented during Sir Alex Ferguson’s trophy-laden 26-year reign, and he would soon incur the manager's full wrath, but it revealed Rooney’s annoyance that United were keeping their money in their pocket and hunting around in the bargain bins after the £80 million sale of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.

It may have taken some time, and Ferguson is long gone, but five-and-a-half years on, United have finally heeded Rooney’s words.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan have already arrived this summer, and United are hoping to break the world transfer record to bring Paul Pogba back to Old Trafford, per Fabrizio Romano and Marcus Christenson of the Guardian.

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But Rooney should be careful what he wishes for, as the obvious problem is these players may well have been signed to replace him rather than play with him.

This is 2016, not 2010, and the England international is a very different player.

It should concern Rooney that in Jose Mourinho’s first press conference as Manchester United manager at the start of July, he offered him no assurances about his role and instead demeaned his ability.

"For me, he will never be a No. 6, playing 50 metres from the goal," Mourinho said, per Spencer Morgan for MailOnline. "You can tell me his pass is amazing, but my pass is also amazing without pressure. To be there and put the ball in the net is the most difficult thing. For me, he will be a 9, a 10, a 9 ½, but never a 6 or an 8."

Over the previous six months, Rooney had been carving out a new midfield role for himself with both United and England, but Mourinho has ruined that plan. 

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Earlier this year, with his pace fading, the 30-year-old started to embrace moving back on the pitch and playing out his days as a midfielder.

"Sometimes you have to make choices in your career and at the moment it's better for me to play deeper," Rooney told BBC Sport in May. “[N]ext season that's where I see myself playing."

Former Red Devils manager Louis van Gaal tended to agree and used him there with varying degrees of success at the end of last season, while former England manager Roy Hodgson also played him in midfield during their embarrassing implosion at Euro 2016.

Mourinho has no inclination or need to indulge Rooney any further, though, and if he wants to be a midfielder, he would have to find somewhere else to do it.

The Merseysider's plans have been scuppered, and he has been left to fight for his place under the new manager as either a striker or a playmaker—but those positions could already be filled at Old Trafford.

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Ibrahimovic has been signed to play as Mourinho’s No. 9 and will likely be the focal point of his attack. At 34, he may be older than Rooney, but he remains in brilliant condition and scored 50 goals for Paris Saint-Germain last season.

The Swede has also been brought in to help bring on the rich talent of Marcus Rashford, who so impressed as a striker in his debut season and is too good to be consigned to the bench for long periods.

At No. 9, Rooney is neither the present nor the future.

As a striker, Rooney’s numbers have been falling, and in the last three seasons, his goal output in the Premier League has dropped from 17 to 12 to last season’s eight, which was the first time he had failed to get into double figures for league goals in a season at Old Trafford.

Eight goals in 28 appearances is not nearly prolific enough for a United striker.

Matt Dunham/Associated Press

The last remaining spot for Rooney—his one glimmer of hope—is the No. 10 position, but there are no guarantees here.

The quicker Mkhitaryan could be deployed here, though it looks more likely he will play on the right of a front three.

Juan Mata will be another of Rooney’s rivals for this position, and at press conference on Thursday, Mourinho spoke warmly about him, even though he sold the Spain international to United from Chelsea in January 2014. 

But the former Valencia man was discarded for not being quick enough, and this has not changed. Rooney is inevitably slowing down as well.

Mourinho will have watched as too many games passed the forward by last season; he was too erratic and increasingly peripheral.

However, the new United manager will probably not want to jettison Rooney. He is the club captain and represents continuity amid so much change at Old Trafford.

Frank Augstein/Associated Press

Rooney is still a useful presence on the pitch, which he proved with his telling contribution to United’s FA Cup final win in May, a driving run through the Crystal Palace defence resulting in the ball into the box from which Mata score the equaliser.

However, the former Everton man will look at the quality of the new arrivals and realise his place is under real threat, and in recent days, he has talked about having to prove himself again, per Rob Dawson of the Manchester Evening News. 

In 2013, Sir Alex Ferguson, who would have probably sold Rooney had he remained as manager, wrote in his autobiography, My Autobiography, that he was now “struggling to get past people” and had “lost some of his old thirst.”

Ferguson added: "I left him to discuss his future with David Moyes, hoping to see many more great performances from him at Old Trafford."

In the last three years, though, United and Rooney have both been in decline; it is left to Mourinho to decide how many more great performances the England captain has left.