FA Community Shield: Rooney’s going nowhere, blasts Moyes after win
AT WEMBLEY
MANCHESTER UNITED 2 vs WIGAN ATHLETIC 0
MANCHESTER United manager David Moyes expects striker Wayne Rooney to play some part in Wednesday’s friendly between England and Scotland at Wembley and insists his unsettled star is not for sale, despite continued interest from Chelsea.
Rooney missed yesterday’s Community Shield triumph as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury, where two goals from his striker partner Robin van Persie were enough to win a one-sided contest against FA Cup winners Wigan.
And while Moyes believes Rooney will not be fit enough for the start of United’s Premier League title defence against Swansea next weekend, he expects the 27-year-old to represent his country in midweek and gain much-needed match practice.
“I want him to join up [with England],” insisted Moyes. “He trained with us on Saturday, but he’s not ready. You’ll probably see that in the game, he’ll probably play a chunk of the game, but he’s had no football.
“He’s had 45 minutes against Real Betis in a friendly where he hurt his shoulder. Apart from that, since the day he came back for pre-season, he’s had no match action, so you wouldn’t expect someone in that condition to be playing for a long period.
“It will be great for Manchester United because hopefully he’ll get some playing time.
“I’ve spoken to Roy [Hodgson] for about two hours at different times, Roy knows the situation.”
Chelsea have had two bids rejected for Rooney by United this summer, with Moyes determined not to lose the services of a player he first introduced to Premier League football as a 16-year-old with Everton.
Rooney, who has been dogged by shoulder and hamstring injuries for most of the summer, trained away from the United first team players on Friday, but Moyes insists that was at the player’s request.
“I didn’t fall out with Wayne,” he said. “Wayne trained with the reserves because it was his asking.
“He couldn’t have contact because he has a shoulder injury. We used him as a floating player, which means he doesn’t play for either team, he plays between them both. And he played as a floating player so that he didn’t get injured. He is not for sale.”
Van Persie opened the scoring on six minutes at Wembley when he met left-back Patrice Evra’s deep cross with a towering header across goal and into the bottom corner from 16 yards.
Moyes’s afternoon was spoilt slightly on 16 minutes when right-back Rafael limped off with a hamstring injury.
But the Scot was smiling again on 59 minutes when Van Persie’s low shot from the edge of the box was deflected past Latics goalkeeper Scott Carson by the outstretched left leg of defender James Perch.
Moyes claimed the silverware should be credited as the 38th piece collected in predecessor Sir Alex Ferguson’s era rather than the first of his short tenure at Old Trafford.
However, he will not be deflecting the credit back to his elder Scot should United win a record 21st Premier League title.
“I class that as another piece of silverware for Sir Alex,” he added.
“It was his team that won the Premier League by 11 points last year, so I see this as Sir Alex’s. I was in charge, but the ones going forward will be down to me, so a big thank you to Sir Alex for getting me in this position, this trophy is for him.”