LONDON: Jose Mourinho has warned Wayne Rooney he cannot be sure of being involved in Manchester United’s clash with Crystal Palace on Wednesday despite Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s injury.
The United and England captain has been relegated to the bench by both this season and has started just one league game since being left out against Leicester at the end of September.
Rooney is one goal short of the 249 career United goals scored by the legendary Bobby Charlton, but with just three goals this season, and only one in the league, the striker might have to wait a while longer to make history.
And although an injury to Mkhitaryan in Sunday’s win against Tottenham will keep the Armenian forward out of United’s next two games, Mourinho insists Rooney, 31, is just one of five players battling to start at Selhurst Park.
“I knew that was coming,” joked Mourinho when asked if Rooney would start.
“Rooney, (Marcus) Rashford, (Jesse) Lingard, Ashley Young, Memphis Depay — that’s a position where we have lots of players so that will not be another problem, to choose a player to play.
“The problem is Mkhitaryan was playing so, so well and now he’s not there.”
Mourinho paid tribute to his central defensive pairing of Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo, two players whose United careers have been blighted by injuries and inconsistent form.
