Experienced defender Rio Ferdinand believes Wayne Rooney is mainly responsible for Manchester United’s recent improvement, Mail Online reports.
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Despite being knocked out of the FA Cup quarter-final by Arsenal last month, the Red Devils have been in very good form of late, highlighted by back-to-back victories over Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool before the international break.
And they followed that up with a 3-1 win against Aston Villa last Saturday which lifted them into third ahead of local rivals Manchester City with the huge derby clash between the two coming up at the weekend.
But while the likes of Marouane Fellaini, Ashley Young, Juan Mata and Ander Herrera receive praise from pundits and fans alike, Ferdinand, who spent over a decade at Old Trafford has singled out his former teammate Rooney for praise:
“Carrick returning has obviously helped but the biggest of the lot is playing Wayne Rooney up front.” Ferdinand wrote in his column in The Sun (via Mail Online)
“Wayne’s a goalscorer. He has United’s goals record in his sights and the side functions better when he is there.
“The fact is that United need a fit Rooney up front.” he added.
Since the England captain has returned to his more natural role as a centre forward he has found the back of the net five times, including this stunner against Villa.