Wednesday 17 February 2016

Rooney ruled out for six weeks with knee injury

The Reds injury-ravaged season has struck again after United and England captain Wayne Rooney faces six weeks on the sidelines with a knee ligament injury.

Rooney picked up the injury in the defeat at Sunderland on Saturday and could miss United's next eight games, against Midtjylland (home and away), Shrewsbury, Arsenal, Watford, West Brom and Crystal Palace.

He will also be doubtful for the Manchester derby on March 20 and the injury is a huge blow both for the player- closing in on Sir Bobby's record goalscoring tally for United- and the manager and club. 

"He scores a lot of goals and is our captain so he is very important to us, we know that but we have to cope" said United manager Louis van Gaal.

The 30-year-old was not included for the Europa League trip to Midtjylland, but the reason for his absence, and the extent of it, was only revealed in Van Gaal's press conference.

Rooney completed Saturday's match at the Stadium of Light despite the injury but the Dutch boss refused to criticise his captain.

"He's a guy who wants to go until the end and if he's feeling a pain he doesn't want to go out, he wants to win.
"That's a fantastic attitude to have but sometimes it's also harmful for his body but you cannot say it made the injury worse because we didn't know when it happened.
"Certainly in 2016, he has scored goals and that's why we had a good run of matches until Sunderland but of course everybody can be injured and the captain also."


Rooney is also likely to miss England's two friendlies against world champions Germany and the Netherlands in late March, although he is expected to be fit in time for the start of Euro 2016 in June.

It is not the first time Rooney has suffered from hampered preparations before a major tournament.

He broke a metatarsal in the run-up to the 2006 World Cup and he struggled with an ankle injury in the tournament in South Africa four years later. 

Rooney takes United's list up to an incredible 13 players- including right-back Matteo Darmian (dislocated shoulder), left-flank partner Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, whom is ill and Marouane Fellaini with a muscle problem.

"It's unbelievable that we are very unlucky, I have never had that amount of players injured and they are all contact injuries more or less except Fellaini so we have 13 players unavailable or not capable of playing" bemoaned the Dutchman. 



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