It has been revealed that Wayne Rooney’s output this season has taken a fall due to the fact he is focusing more on being a better captain.
That is the opinion of former Manchester United midfielder Quinton Fortune who believes his old teammate has sacrificed his own game in a bid to ensure that the rest of the players in a United shirt are pulling their weight.
Rooney has scored just two goals in 12 Premier League outings this season, well down on his usual numbers, but Fortune suggests there is a valid reason for his apparent shortcomings.
“Now that he is the captain, the leader, I think Wayne is probably more concerned with making sure everyone else is doing their job,” he told Sky Sports. “It’s almost like sacrificing his own game to make sure the team wins.
“It’s not about him scoring anymore. He’s at a different time in his career where he’s got a few years behind him now. He’s got more of a sensible role now whereas before he used to do everything: tackle, defend, attack, score goals.
“He’s more experienced and more sensible about his game now. He’s still very clever in terms of his movement, but he’s playing a new role where he is probably not getting as many chances as he wants or scoring as many goals as he wants.
“But I played under Roy Keane and captains always sacrifice themselves and their own game to make sure the team wins. It’s best to judge him at the end of season by what we win and where we end up in the league. The responsibility of the captain is to make sure he leads the team. Of course we all want to see him score more goals but for me it looks like he’s sacrificing that for the team.”