Manchester United icon Wayne Rooney has disclosed that three regular players following Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure didn’t meet the high standards he was accustomed to at the club.
Ferguson concluded his illustrious tenure as United manager in 2013 after 26 years of remarkable success at Old Trafford.
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Upon his retirement, he left with the Premier League title and urged fans to support David Moyes, his chosen successor.
Despite Ferguson’s endorsement, Moyes was dismissed in April 2014, with the Red Devils ultimately finishing seventh in the league that season.
Ferguson believed he had equipped Moyes with all the necessary tools to thrive in one of the most significant roles in world football.
However, United’s fortunes continued to decline, and they have yet to secure another Premier League title, 11 years later.
Over the following years, Rooney witnessed the departure of several teammates with whom he had won numerous major honors.
Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, and Patrice Evra were among those allowed to leave, while Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes retired.
During an appearance on the Stick to Football podcast, presented by Sky Bet, Rooney discussed these departures and the players tasked with filling the void.
The former United striker mentioned academy graduates Jesse Lingard, Danny Welbeck, and Tom Cleverley as individuals who didn’t quite match the standards set by Ferguson’s core group.
He said: “Firstly, at Manchester United, we were losing the core of the team in Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, they were all on their last legs, so we were losing that presence in the changing room, which left me and Michael Carrick from our generation.
“Then you’ve got the likes of Jesse Lingard, Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley coming through, who had good careers, but they weren’t the same as the core group we had.
“Football was changing, the behaviour of players and everything around football was changing and that was a big thing.
“I remember after the Liverpool game when we got beat at Old Trafford in 2014 under David Moyes, the players were dancing around the changing room the next day at the training ground, playing hip-hop music. I tried taking the speaker out of the room and you can try to control as much as possible, but you can’t really.”
Among the trio, Lingard enjoyed the most success at United, clinching the FA Cup, Carabao Cup, and Europa League titles before departing in 2022.
Welbeck made his exit for Arsenal in 2014 and remains in the Premier League, currently representing Brighton. Conversely, Cleverley retired in 2023, citing injury as the reason for his departure from professional football.
