Ian Wright: it could be ‘the beginning of the end’ for Wayne Rooney at Manchester United
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho dropped Rooney on Saturday - and watched his side thrash Leicester 4-1
FORMER Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright believes it could be "the beginning of the end" for Wayne Rooney.
The Manchester United striker was dropped on Saturday, and watched on as Leicester were despatched 4-1 at Old Trafford.
He was reduced to a seven-minute cameo after being introduced from the bench by Jose Mourinho, and Wright believes this could become a regular occurrence.
Speaking on the Sun Goals podcast, Wright said: "It looks like the beginning of the end for Wayne Rooney. He looks tired and most of all, he looks forlorn.
"All the stick weighs you down and people have been saying he shouldn't be in the team since the start of the season. Juan Mata was the difference on Saturday."
Wright is speaking from experience of how the back-end of a footballers' career sometimes goes.
Arsene Wenger signed relative unknown Nicholas Anelka back in February 1997 from Paris Saint-Germain, and the 17-year-old didn't take long establishing himself in the first team.
"The first time a 17 year-old Nicolas Anelka trained with us at Arsenal, I knew I had 18 months left max," said Wright.
"There was no way I was stopping that tidal wave. He had everything. I was sat on the bench, watching the future. That's a situation Rooney could find himself in."
Related Stories
With Juan Mata playing in the number 10 role against the Foxes, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford took up positions on the flank to support frontman Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
And it led to United putting in their best performance of the season to comfortably see off last year's Premier League champions.
Watch ALL the goals from the Premier League before anyone else for FREE plus all the latest news, fixtures and results and live match commentary all on the go with the new Sun Football App – click here to download
