Wayne Rooney is unavailable for West Ham United’s visit to Old Trafford on Saturday and will miss Tuesday’s crucial Champions League game at Wolfsburg as well, a fixture Manchester United have to win to ensure qualification for the knockout phase.
Rooney’s form has been indifferent this season yet he is still the club’s top scorer with seven goals, four of these coming in Europe, and as the captain is crucial to Louis van Gaal’s on-field strategy. United stand on eight points in Group B, one behind Wolfsburg and one ahead of PSV Eindhoven.
Rooney has made 499 appearances for United but will have to wait until next weekend, at the earliest, for No500. Van Gaal said: “It’s a nasty injury. He shall not play his 500th game [on Saturday] because he is more injured than I thought so we have to wait for that game. His ankle is not good enough. He has to do a lot of exercises to make his ankle stronger. He needs more time.”
The manager claimed that Rooney’s deputies can help fill the void. “I have three captains,” he said. “There is [Michael] Carrick and then there is [Chris] Smalling. So there is another player who takes the responsibility.”
Van Gaal also stated that at the “first sign” of bad chemistry at a club he would leave. The manager was clear the chemistry at United is good but he pointed to his career before coming to Old Trafford as evidence of his stance.
“I’m happy that when I’m gone, people are saying nice things about me,” the Dutchman said. “But the most important thing is not always that. It’s in my opinion the chemistry between players and staff. That chemistry is the most important thing. And when I have the feeling that the chemistry is there, I will always work to my utmost best. But when I have a single feeling that it is not like that, I’m the first coach that quits and I have proved that already with my former clubs and former jobs.”
At Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Ajax, three of his previous clubs Van Gaal had disagreements with players and the executive. The 64-year-old said: “I don’t think there is a coach that quits by himself because of the money, but I am like that. It’s fantastic that people are saying when I’m gone: ‘Oh, he was very good, he gave structure and was the basis for other things.’
“But it’s not the most important thing for me. The most important thing for me as a trainer, coach and manager is the chemistry between me and my players and my board. It should be good and otherwise I would be gone.”
In September Rooney and Carrick approached Van Gaal about his rigid training methods while this week Ander Herrera was forced to deny reports he is unhappy under the manager. When asked how the chemistry is at United, Van Gaal said it was good.
Marcos Rojo, meanwhile, may require surgery to the shoulder he dislocated in training. “He trained with us Wednesday the first session after two days off [for all players]. He fell down and it was a bad fall and he dislocated his shoulder, more or less the same as what happened last season [in the Manchester derby],” said Van Gaal. “He’s out for more weeks and the question whether to operate is for the doctor and Marcos. We have to wait for the scan at the proper time.”
Rojo is the seventh of Van Gaal’s players who is injured. In addition to the Argentinian and Rooney, Luke Shaw, who has a broken leg, Antonio Valencia (foot), Jesse Lingard, Herrera (both hamstring), and Phil Jones (ankle) are all out.
This may cause Van Gaal to enter the January transfer market. “The problem is when you see our injuries they are always contact,” he said. “And you can’t avoid that because football is sport of direct resistance – Shaw and Rojo also, and Wayne.
“We have a lot of contact injuries and long-lasting injuries. That’s our problem. We are looking but it’s not so easy to buy players in January; it’s more difficult. We are looking but it’s not for sure.”
