Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville says that Wayne Rooney is not finished and still has a role to play for the Red Devils going forward if he can adapt to not always playing.
Rooney has not been a regular this season under Jose Mourinho and has been heavily linked with a move away from the club in recent months but the striker wants to stay at the club.
Rooney still has a part to play at United, says Neville
Therefore in order to do that Neville believes that Rooney's changing role in the team is natural development and now it is up to the striker to adapt to the new circumstances if he wants to stay.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Neville said "it is not the end of Rooney" at United as he believes that Rooney is "entering into a different phase of his career" where he is not guaranteed to "play every week" and will just have to deal with that going forward.
The former defender went on to say that "at the moment" Rooney will only play "some games" while he doesn't "others" which now means he has "arrived at that period in his career" that he has to deal with it as that is "how it is going to be for him" as this happens to "all players as they get into their 30s."
Neville says that Rooney has only "been out of the team for four weeks" so it is not a big amount of time and he will still be "in the mindset of fighting to get back into the team" in order to show he still has what it takes to perform at such a high level.
Rooney in with a chance of playing against Arsenal this weekend
Over the last while though he hasn't performed well with Neville saying "his performances have not been up to his level" recently and that is the reason "Mourinho has left out of the team" so it is up to Rooney "to fight his way back into the team".
Rooney will be hoping that with Zlatan Ibrahimovic suspended this weekend he has a chance of starting against a team he has had success against in Arsenal.