Louis van Gaal has no concerns about Wayne Rooney’s Premier League drought, the Manchester United manager pointing to how the striker is close to breaking Sir Bobby Charlton’s record 249 goals for the club.
Rooney has scored 233 times for United, though not in his past 10 league matches. On Sunday at Southampton the captain returns to the XI after missing two games with a hamstring injury.
The 29-year-old did score a hat-trick in the 4-0 victory over Club Brugge in the Champions League and Van Gaal said: “It doesn’t matter if it’s the Premier League or the Champions League. It does not matter to me who is scoring. But we have to score more. When you are so dominant as we are, in all the matches, we have to win these.
“Rooney has a range of goals, like Mata, Memphis, Martial, Fellaini. You can count all the goals he’s made. In my memory Rooney has scored a lot. He’s nearly the record holder in the club. I hope he will beat that record.”
Van Gaal is surprised at how mentally strong Luke Shaw is proving following the horrific double leg break the left-back suffered in United’s defeat at PSV Eindhoven.
Shaw faces a minimum of six months out yet when Van Gaal spoke to him on Thursday the 20-year-old indicated his spirits were high. “I called him,” the manager said. “He sounds very strong, which was amazing for me – a big surprise. It is a good signal, but he knows he has long way to go and it is not easy.”
Shaw is to have a second, minor procedure on his leg following his operation in an Eindhoven hospital after the game on Tuesday night.
“It’s a closing of the stitches or something,” said Van Gaal. “The pressure was too high, that’s why an immediate operation was needed. Because of opening the leg you need to close it also. It’s a typical minor operation. He shall fly back. The pressure is low now so he can fly back.
“It will be today or tomorrow, then he will go to a private clinic in Manchester. When it’s all right, depending on the development of the injury, then he goes home, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday.”
