Manchester United’s projected starting 11 for 2016/17

Wayne Rooney

I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that I’m projecting what I believe will happen at United, and not what I think should happen. It’s clear to me that Louis van Gaal holds Wayne Rooney in great esteem, so much so that I can’t see him being dropped as a starter next year.

If you accept the fact that Rooney has to play somewhere in the United starting 11, you can clearly see he’s much better off serving as a number ten. From that spot he isn’t required to stretch the back four with his pace, and he can instead, rely on his passing ability and general caginess as a player.

Playing Rooney as a number ten is simply the best way to get as much out of him as you can. It doesn’t mean he’s the best option to play there for United, it does mean that playing him there does the least amount of damage to the rest of the squad.

Wayne Rooney should be riding off into the (Chinese?) sunset, but he’ll stick around for at least one more season in the Premier League. Fans of the club and manager Louis van Gaal just have to hope that he can give them enough this season to go out on his own terms.

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