Jose Mourinho reportedly chose to leave Wayne Rooney out of his squad to face Feyenoord because of the player’s derby performance.
Jose Mourinho shocked everyone by leaving Wayne Rooney out of his 20-man squad to face Feyenoord in Manchester United’s UEFA Europa League opener. The Portuguese explained in his press conference that he wanted Rooney fit and fresh for the match against Watford this weekend and that he did not want to risk burning out the England international.
However, Neil Ashton of The Sun claims that burn-out was most probably not the reason for Rooney’s omission by making the point that the 34-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has also featured in every game like Rooney, was included in the squad.
Ibrahimovic even came on in the latter stages of the game against Feyenoord in an attempt to salvage a result, but failed to have much impact as United fell to a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Feyenoord.
The Sun claim that Jose Mourinho dropped Wayne Rooney from his squad to face Feyenoord because of his disappointing performance in the Manchester derby; the captain’s display drew heavy criticism from United fans around the world.
The Sun do seem to have a valid point: Ibrahimovic will turn 35 in a couple of weeks, has played more minutes than Rooney, and was yet chosen in the squad to face Feyenoord.
Jose Mourinho is known for his harsh treatment of stars and the decision to omit Wayne Rooney might just be one of his attempts to spur the United captain on in the hopes of seeing a positive reaction against Watford. It remains to be seen if Mourinho’s alleged strategy works and if the United captain provides a performance that is worthy of a return to the starting lineup.