Manchester United’s best midfielder is Wayne Rooney

Manchester United has benefited greatly from Wayne Rooney’s transition from struggling striker to ace midfield star

Manchester United has found a gem of a midfielder in the form of their aging striker Wayne Rooney. The prolific English goal scorer clearly played his best football this season after being moved to the middle of the pitch.

Much praise and adulation has been heaped upon Rooney for making the move, so I set about researching whether or not he’d really been as good in the midfield as United fans and pundits had made out. After all, it wouldn’t have been the first time that Red Devil fans and media had overhyped the performance of one of their players. In truth, it wouldn’t even be the first time they’d blown Rooney’s play out of proportion.

I knew that to my eye it seemed that Rooney had found a home in Louis van Gaal’s midfield, but I certainly hadn’t studied it at length. That observation makes sense too. Rooney had begun to struggle as a striker largely because of his lack of pace. It seemed logical that moving him further back on the pitch might help extend his career.

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Still, I was pretty shocked when I took a closer look at Rooney’s performance as a midfielder. His five appearances for the club as a true central midfielder were by far, his best statistical matches of the season. His Whoscored.com player average jumped to a stellar 7.57. That’s over half a point better than he performed as either a striker or number ten on the year.

Granted, five matches doesn’t constitute a very substantial sample size, but it’s enough to give us a real idea that Rooney could be a high-performer in the United midfield next season. Even more encouraging for United fans, is the fact that their captain has enough self-awareness to realize this move is for the best.

Newsweek quoted Rooney as claiming that he’ll be a midfielder moving forward for his club. That’s a giant win for whomever manages United next season. If Rooney had agitated to continue to play as a striker it could have created significant problems at Old Trafford. His realization that he’s better suited to play as a midfielder at this point in his career is something that really should be admired and appreciated by United fans.

The fact that changing his position also makes the side better is a terrific bonus. United won’t be forced to farm Rooney out to pasture, instead they can re-position him into a different sort of asset. He may not be able to perform at that high level for an entire season, but his outstanding play in the midfield shows he can be a factor there for United.

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Many fans and pundits thought Wayne Rooney’s career might be starting to wind down earlier this season. Instead, to his credit he’s managed to reinvent himself into Manchester United’s best midfielder.