Wayne Rooney accused Man United players of feigning injury as he questioned whether some are still playing for Erik ten Hag.
Manchester United has endured a torrid season under Ten Hag and the beleaguered Dutchman is understood to be at risk of losing his job as a result.
The beleaguered Dutchman has been ravaged by injuries, though, and was missing a host of recognized defenders for Sunday’s 1-0 loss against Arsenal at Old Trafford.
Rooney, the club’s all-time leading goalscorer, was asked for his take on Ten Hag and the current state of Manchester United post-match. The legend pulled no punches with a brutally frank assessment where he reasoned that some of United’s injured players could potentially be playing.
“Some of these players have to look at themselves because when your manager is doing an interview and talking about attitudes not being right to play for Manchester United, that is a massive insult,” said Rooney.
“If I saw my manager saying that, there’s no way I’d let that ride until the end of the season. And it looks like some players are just trying to get to the end of the season. And that’s my personal opinion.”
Pressed on his comments, Rooney was asked if players are NOT playing for Ten Hag anymore.
“If they are then they’re not showing it very well. There’s some very good players in that squad and their performances are way below par. As we look at the injuries they’ve picked up, some of those players can play. Some of those players can play, 100 per cent.”
Jones (Interviewer) replied: “That’s quite a big claim that, you’re saying some Manchester United players who we’re not seeing out there now are fit enough to play?”
Rooney continued: “It’s easy when you’ve got a European Championships and FA Cup Final coming up, it’s easy because they’re getting a little bit of stick to stay out of it and come back towards the final. You’ve seen it, I’ve seen it over the years”.
“I just think the players that have been ‘injured’, they’re not filling themselves with any credit.”
Jones then promptly asked Roy Keane for his view stating “what if that was true, Roy?”, and the ex-United captain said: “Well obviously that’s not a good sign”.
“You’d hope players who were carrying injuries are desperate to get back to playing football. There’s always some players at every club that can drag their players with an injury, but other players, and generally players I played with, they’d try and knock a week or two off to get back”.
“But I have to say that I think that goes on at a lot of clubs. Players when they have an injury or a lack of confidence and are out of it, they’re not in a hurry to get back and that happens at lots of football clubs.”