The Daily Mail has claimed that Wayne Rooney’s omission from the squad today, along with Jonny Evans and Darron Gibson, was down to the players going out for a meal on Boxing Day with their wives and girlfriends.

Word got back to the manager and the players were ordered to do extra training on Wednesday, which was their day off. The three players then did extra training this morning when the rest of the squad were preparing for today’s game against Blackburn.

Rooney was seen watching the game from the stands and the players have apparently been fined.