Wayne Rooney at odds with Sir Alex Ferguson over ankle injury
Published:Wayne Rooney has risked a severe dressing down from Sir Alex Ferguson after insisting he has been 100 per cent fit all season.
Ferguson has maintained that Rooney has been struggling with an ankle problem and cited this as the reason for him missing Manchester United’s games with Sunderland and Valencia.
But Rooney has now come out and denied Ferguson’s version of events, when asked about his fitness he replied, “No, I’ve had no ankle problem all season.”
He was then asked why he thought Ferguson had told the media that he had been nursing an ankle injury, to which replied, “I don’t know.”
These remarks are sure to rile Ferguson, who left Rooney out of the United line up to face his former side Everton in the wake of the tabloid revelations about his private life.
Rooney has found it hard to maintain the fine form he displayed last season when he scored 26 goals for United.
In this campaign he has only scored one goal, a penalty, in his six appearances for Manchester United and he’s found the net just once in his last 14 appearances for England.
Initially one of the favourites for the Premier League’s golden boot, he has fallen to 16/1 to be league’s top scorer, behind Florent Malouda at 10/1 and team mate Dimitar Berbatov at 9/1.
The striker must also now be considered a doubt to play against West Brom at the weekend as Ferguson will not take kindly to being so publicly challenged.
Whatever part Rooney plays on Saturday, United will still expect to take three points when West Brom come to Old Trafford.
The Red Devils are 1/4 to win and need to do so to avoid falling further behind Chelsea, who are already five points up on them.
The Baggies are 11/1 to win and won’t be wildly optimistic that they can do so.
Manchester United are 10/1 to win 3-1 against West Brom. See the full Barclays Premier League betting odds market here.
