Former Manchester United star Park Ji-sung has tipped club legend Wayne Rooney to manage the Red Devils in the future.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Goal, Park Ji-sung has claimed that his former teammate Wayne Rooney could become the manager of Manchester United in the future.
The Red Devils are going through a turbulent phase after a poor run of results led to the sacking of club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on Sunday. The humiliating 4-1 defeat away to Watford on Saturday afternoon proved to be the last straw as Manchester United decided to cut ties with the Norwegian.
In his stead, Michael Carrick has been named caretaker boss until Manchester United bring in an interim manager until the end of the current campaign. Things had been looking gloomy for Solskjaer for some time now, with the Red Devils’ squad not performing up to potential this season.
And former midfielder Park, who had given his backing to Solskjaer, has also tipped ex-teammate and another club legend, Wayne Rooney, to manage Manchester United in the future.
“I believe Wayne can make it,” the 40-year-old said. “He had great experiences from his very young age, and he also had many difficult moments in his career that he overcame eventually. “For sure, he has great leadership skills as well. So, I believe he can be United’s manager in the future.”
Rooney is a bonafide Manchester United legend. The 36-year-old spent most of his playing career at Old Trafford and is the club’s all-time leading goalscorer, with 253 strikes to his name. After leaving the Red Devils in 2017, the ex-England international had stints at Everton and D.C. United in the Major League Soccer.
He returned to England in 2020, joining Derby County in a player-coach role before taking over as the manager of the Rams midway through the last season. While he did well to save the club from relegation last season, Rooney has found it hard to steady the ship this term as Derby County have entered administration and have been with a massive 21-point deduction.
Despite the off-the-field issues at the club, Rooney has decided to stay on the job and try to salvage the season instead of jumping ship amidst the crisis. As for a role as the manager of Manchester United, it will be interesting to see whether the 36-year-old decides to take that route should an opportunity come along in the future.
