It was not even the last proper question Jose Mourinho was asked in Ewood Park’s media theatre. That was really about David de Gea. It was only after replying about the rested goalkeeper that he addressed injuries and, in turn, said he was not sure if his captain would be fit to face Southampton on Sunday.
Wayne Rooney out of a cup final: it would have been huge news not just years ago, but months ago. However would Manchester United cope? Now the way it emerged, in an afterthought, highlighted Rooney’s descent into irrelevance. It could be hugely expensive irrelevance from United’s perspective, given that Rooney possesses arguably the worst contract in football and they must hope someone in China takes him off their hands, but it is footballing irrelevance.
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Rooney lost his place as a starter in September. Recent games have suggested he is superfluous as a squad player, even for a side who may face 67 games this season. Jose Mourinho required an injection of something different against Saint-Etienne on Wednesday: substitutes Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford provided it.
He turned to his bench again at Blackburn Rovers on Sunday: the rested duo of Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic obliged by combining for the winner.
When starting, Rashford illustrated he represents the best deputy for Ibrahimovic as the lone striker, offering the incision his pace gives him and which Rooney now lacks. Henrikh Mkhitaryan demonstrated he is the finest No 10 with a lovely pass for the teenager’s equaliser. Juan Mata had offered creativity in that berth earlier in the season.
United have an abundance of attacking options and while Mourinho has tried using their record scorer as a super-sub, there are few scenarios when Rooney appears among the most appealing. Mata, Mkhitaryan and Anthony Martial have all been omitted by Mourinho. They have all countered with reminders of their class. Between them, they offer more speed and more craft than the captain.
Rooney has been replaced by stealth, not in one role but several. Successors abound in most respects: the lone exception is as the wearer of the armband, which is being passed between Michael Carrick and Chris Smalling at the moment.
But it can feel as though Ibrahimovic is the de facto leader of this side. He is the big personality, the top scorer and the talisman, mantles which used to belong to Rooney. Louis van Gaal had installed the Englishman as his first-choice centre-forward, but last season proved his least productive in the Premier League since his Everton days. He ended it in midfield.
He no longer offers the same cutting edge. His last 40 appearances – and, yes, some have been in midfield and some as a substitute – have yielded just six goals; perhaps only one, his record-breaking equaliser at Stoke City, was of any significance.
Comparisons with the Swede are instructive. Whereas Rooney’s body is breaking down, the indestructible Ibrahimovic rolls on, in his 36th year and after 36 games of a campaign. He has already scored 24 times this season, a total Rooney has only twice topped. United used to be defined by Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. Now the pivotal axis is between Ibrahimovic and Pogba, egos and exuberant characters.
The telling element is that omitting Rooney used to be a cause of controversy. It was when Alex Ferguson benched him against Real Madrid and again on the one time Van Gaal demoted him, at Stoke. Now it passes without mention. When injury rules Rooney out, it is scarcely headline news. Arguably it is easier for Mourinho, who is spared the problem of if and when to introduce him.
Because, while there was an anomaly in Ibrahimovic and Pogba beginning on the bench at Blackburn, the last week has still shown United have game-changing replacements. They have strength in depth and players who are responding to Mourinho’s management.
Rooney’s 2017 has brought him Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring record, but little else other than unwanted illustrations of a decline, in performance, importance and status.
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