Wayne Rooney came through 60 minutes for Manchester United’s under-21 side at Old Trafford as he stepped up his recovery from a knee injury.
Louis van Gaal, the United manager, and his No2, Ryan Giggs, were at the 1-0 Premier League Division One win over Middlesbrough to see Rooney put in a steady display that puts him in contention for Wednesday’s trip to West Ham United for the FA Cup quarter-final replay.
Van Gaal has not ruled out the 30-year-old being involved at the Boleyn Ground, though the manner in which Rooney skied a 25-yard shot, as the first half drew to a close, suggests he remains some way from his sharpest.
Rooney last played on 13 February when he suffered the knee problem in a 2-1 defeat at Sunderland. Operating as the No9 for Warren Joyce’s under-21 side, his first touch was unconvincing, but a second was a smooth pass off his instep that allowed Devonte Redmond to rove forward.
During the 12 matches the United and England captain has missed he has seen himself become the victim of a reversal of the adage that a player becomes better during his absence. With each Harry Kane or Jamie Vardy goal for club or country, Rooney’s glittering track record seems to have receded in the national consciousness.
To recap, this is the season in which Rooney overtook Sir Bobby Charlton to become England’s record goalscorer with 51 strikes. And the finish he registered on 2 February in United’s 3-0 win against Stoke City at this ground took him to 244 for United, just five behind Charlton’s all-time mark of 249.
These are impressive statistics but do not tell of Rooney’s creative and totemic abilities. An illustration of the former came when a simple but crafty pass played in James Weir in the Middlesbrough area – he should have scored – and the latter was on show in the way Rooney continually encouraged an XI in which only Phil Jones is a genuine first-team player.
The theory that says Rooney needs a few games before hitting peak fitness could actually be to England’s benefit. This is one reading of an injury that while not wanted may yet act as the ideal mid-season break to keep him fresh and hungry before the summer’s European Championship.
The issue here, of course, is the form of Tottenham Hotspur’s Kane, Leicester City’s Vardy, Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge and Arsenal’s Danny Welbeck. Roy Hodgson insists he will take Rooney to France if he suffers no further setback so the debate will centre around whether he should start.
Rooney’s most impressive moment in front of a crowd of 6,132 here came from a Jones pass. The defender pinged the ball to him along the right and, in an instant, Rooney killed it expertly, swivelled, then attempted to bang the ball over Joe Fryer, the Middlesbrough goalkeeper, from 30 yards.
Six minutes after Rooney’s substitution, Paddy McNair broke into the box unmarked and collected Andreas Pereira’s cross to break the deadlock and earn United a victory that brought the side to within two points of claiming the under-21s title.
For this match Rooney was joined by Jones, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and McNair, who are established squad players, plus the fringe members Donald Love, Weir and Joe Riley, who have all appeared in the first team this season under Van Gaal.
Whatever else Weir does, he can say he once captained Rooney as the 20-year-old retained the armband. The sense is the Liverpudlian will do the same for England’s opener against Russia on 11 June in Marseille.
Between now and then he would benefit from some goals. In this game there were none. But at least Rooney is on the way back.
