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Wayne Rooney scored the winner as Man United beat Swansea yesterday.
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'Any team in the world would take Wayne Rooney'

The Manchester United striker became the second-highest goalscorer in the history of both his club and the Premier League.

Updated at 16.17

WAYNE ROONEY’S BEST years as a football player are still to come and he would be pursued by the world’s top teams if he gets back to his best form, Graeme Souness believes.

The Manchester United striker has been criticised heavily over the past few seasons, with many calling for him to be dropped from the team after scoring just three goals in 16 Premier League games this term.

However, Souness feels there is more to come from the England attacker, insisting he can play even better than before as long as he gets fit and motivated.

“I think it has to be a psychological thing,” he said on Sky Sports. ”I would assume he’s looking after himself, he has been a fabulous player, an absolute star.

“I look at his shape and I think he’s a boy who has to play regularly to keep himself at the highest level. I know injuries this year have not helped him, but if I was talking to him, I’d be saying ‘your best years are ahead of you’.

“I wouldn’t entertain any chat about ‘your best days are behind you’. I look at him and I go back to Wayne Rooney as a young player, I’d have loved to have played with him.

I think the best years are ahead of him, it’s just finding the position and getting him back fully motivated as the angry Wayne Rooney. I would take the occasional red card and say “get back to the angry Rooney, miss a few games through suspension but give me what you’re giving me now — the 35 or 36 games’, because when he’s like that, any team in the world would take him.”

Jamie Carragher, though, feels that the 30-year-old, having been playing in the English top flight since he was 16, is playing like a player much older than he really is.

“The reason he’s getting criticism now is that he’s at that stage of his career now — he’s only 30 but we’ve said before he was playing at 16 so real terms he’s like a 33 or 34-year-old player.

“But it comes back on all of this season and towards the end of last season, and for Rooney to answer his critics and show he’s still the man to play centre-forward for Manchester United, he maybe needs a run of 10 games in which he scores seven or eight goals. And it’s not just goals, it’s his general play which I think was back against Chelsea. He didn’t score in that game, but I think his general play was back.

He must have played nearly 600 games as a centre forward and I think that constant pressure, and mental pressure, to play from that age at 16, I think we are looking at a player who is getting to that stage of his career.

“He may prove me wrong but I don’t think Wayne Rooney will be playing at the top level at 34 or 35. It’s 30 on his birth certificate but in terms of games played he’s a 35 year old player.”

Louis van Gaal had previously praised Wayne Rooney’s “amazing” goalscoring record after the England captain became the second-highest scorer in the history of both Manchester United and the Premier League.

Rooney’s winner in the 2-1 victory over Swansea City on Saturday leaves him trailing just Sir Bobby Charlton and Alan Shearer respectively in the club and divisional record books.

The England captain has now scored 238 goals for United — one more than Denis Law – and 188 in the Premier League since his debut for Everton in 2002, moving ahead of ex-Red Devils forward Andy Cole.

“It’s amazing,” Van Gaal said of Rooney’s position in the United goal charts. “And that at the age of 30.

You have to say that now we are playing much more matches I think, but still it is a fantastic achievement. But for me it’s more important that he scores now and he scored today.

“I hope that is a fantastic starting point for the team but also for him.”

Rooney was recently dropped from Van Gaal’s starting XI having not scored since October, but the Dutchman does not believe that omission can take any credit for Rooney’s return to form after his goal gave United a first win in nine matches.

Rooney also impressed against Chelsea having been dropped for the visit to Stoke City two days before, but Van Gaal does not believe his benching has anything to do with his improved form.

“I said to him it is your second match in a row where you are playing very good and you score a goal,” Van Gaal added. “That has nothing to do with leaving him out.

“It is also that he has played every game and sometimes he needs rest.”

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