Jose Mourinho: ‘Wayne Rooney is a striker not a midfielder’

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has ruled out playing Wayne Rooney in midfield in the upcoming season.

The club captain has dropped deeper for club and country in the last few months, and recently claimed that he sees his future as a midfielder.

However, Mourinho, who was appointed as Louis van Gaal‘s successor in May, has no intentions of playing the 30-year-old in that position.

“I think in football there are many jobs on the field,” Mourinho told reporters in his first official press conference. “I think the one that is more difficult to find is the man who puts the ball in the net.

“The players change throughout the years. It is normal that a player at this age changes a little bit, but there is something that will never change – his appetite to put the ball in the net.

Meanwhile, Mourinho has confirmed that the club want to have four new players by the time the transfer window shuts.