Wayne Rooney has claimed that after wearing the captain’s armband on occasion, he would love to be named the permanent captain of United and England. Sir Alex Ferguson singled out Rooney as a future captain a couple of years ago, although this is probably fairly unlikely given his behaviour last October.

“I’ve captained both on one-off occasions,” said Rooney. “Obviously to get the two jobs full-time would be a great honour for me.”

Rooney, who has made over 300 appearances for United, is now regarded as one of the more mature members of the squad by the manager.

“It’s obviously great for the manager to say that,” said Rooney. “But I feel like I’ve always trained the same, always worked hard and played the same on the pitch. If I’m not happy with something, I let it be known, so I think it’s good for the younger players to see that and to know that you still care and still want to win. Obviously we’ve got a lot of young players in the team. Players will come in and look at you, see what you’re doing and how you are on the training pitch and on the pitch.”