Phil Neville has said that Wayne Rooney should “stick it out” at Manchester United and reject any interest from the Chinese Super League.
There were rumours circulating for quite some time that three or four clubs were interested in the England captain, who has come out and said he will be staying at Old Trafford for the time being.
Jose Mourinho has stated that he would never force a “legend” out of United, but Rooney has hardly played this season under the Portuguese manager.
Rooney should stick it out at Manchester United
Neville thinks that Rooney will still have a big part to play this season for the Red Devils and the clubs all-time record goalscorer may well get his chance on Sunday in the EFL Cup final against Southampton.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Michael Carrick are ruled out of the game, which could open the door up to the skipper after the pair picked up injuries in the 1-0 win over Saint-Etienne in the Europa League.
“I’m not going to give him advice, but what I would say to him is ‘stick it out at Manchester United’,” Neville said.
“At the moment, he’s not in the team because he’s got a slight knock," said Neville, going on to praise Rooney, stating that "he could come on in the final on Sunday and make a massive impact, score, and then finish the season so well.”
Neville can’t see Rooney moving to China
Neville continued by saying Rooney should not write off his United career “at this moment in time” because the former United defender can’t see the forward playing his football in China.
He added: “I think he’s someone that’s a home bird, I think he likes living in the north-west particularly in the Liverpool area.
“He’s family orientated. I can’t see him taking his young family out to live in China. Culturally it’s a totally different scenario out there. Yes, it’s for vast amounts of money, but I just don’t see it at all.”