WAYNE ROONEY is back in action today declaring he wants to be leader of the gang – for both club and country.
As one of Manchester United’s senior players, he is thriving on the responsibility of showing Sir Alex Ferguson’s new crop of youngsters the ropes.
Rooney says it is an ambition to follow both Nemanja Vidic and John Terry as captain of United and England eventually.
“I have captained both teams on one-off occasions, but to get those two jobs full-time would be an honour,” he said.
Rooney now has 10 years as a pro and more than 400 games under his belt despite the fact that he will not be 26 until later this month.
He is delighted that United boss Ferguson has acknowledged the maturity in his performances this season, and is not averse to handing out the odd rollicking if he thinks that a team-mate deserves one.
After missing the past three games with a hamstring niggle, Rooney said: “It’s great for the manager to say that.
“We have got a lot of young players in the team, and you know they will watch what you are doing on the training pitch and in the matches.
Rooney, speaking at the launch of the computer game FIFA 12, says United are already putting into practice some of the lessons they learnt from their Champions League defeat by Barcelona in the final in May.
While the speed of their play has increased, with the influence of Ashley Young, Phil Jones, Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley, Rooney says United have also tried to match Barca’s ability to regain possession so quickly.
“A lot of people go on about Barcelona’s passing skills and how they keep the ball,” he said. “But, for me, their biggest asset is how quickly they win the ball back so many times in their opponents’ half and attack from there. We have started trying to bring that in, and thankfully it has started to pay off.
Apart from the captaincies, Rooney has Sir Bobby Charlton’s 249-goal United and 49-goal England records in his sights – without ever mentioning it to the Great Man.
“We see Sir Bobby all the time. He flies out to Euro games with us and he comes in the dressing room after every match. But I don’t talk to him about beating his records,” said Rooney.