Thaindian News

London, Aug 15 (ANI): The Premier League will see a new Wayne Rooney after Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson asked the club coaches to drastically remodel the ace striker’s game.

Ferguson watched Rooney’s dismal performance in the World Cup and instructed first-team coach Rene Meulensteen to rebuild the 24-year-old’s faltering approach.

The first coach was dismayed to see Rooney abandon the simple principles that delivered 26 Premier League goals last season, News of the Worlds reports.

“With Wayne Rooney you find that sometimes you need to bring players a little bit back to what they were good at. Wayne was direct and powerful. For some reason, he stopped getting the ball, turning and driving,” Meulensteen said.

“We did quite a lot of work on being direct like that and more importantly, getting him involved in the second phase and getting into the box. Sometimes Manchester United play with one up front and Wayne had a tendency to get involved in the build-up, which he does really well, but he was never in the box. So we have been doing work to get him into the box.

“It paid off last season when he scored 34 goals in all competitions. The manager always says what you do in training will manifest itself in games,” Meulensteen added.

But England boss Fabio Capello, who is held responsible for Rooney’s loss of form, has said that the striker may not rediscover his touch until September.

“I did a study once about how long it takes for a player to find good form and the answer is a minimum 500 to 600 minutes. Rooney has to play that amount of time, minimum. Right now he has played 115 minutes and we will have to wait for him.

“I studied for three years when I was a club manager and I think Rooney will need to play at least another three games before he gets to this level,” Capello said. (ANI)