Wayne Rooney divides opinion. That is a bizarre sentence to type given that the 30-year-old is England’s all-time leading goalscorer, will likely bag the same record for Manchester United and is clearly one of the most talented footballers produced on these shores.

However, his performances have been, excuse the pun, those of a player on the wane for a while, yet managers appear afraid to drop him, instead shoehorning him into their teams whether that be deep in midfield or from the wing.

Even the notoriously egotistical Jose Mourinho appeared to be the latest in a long line of bosses to stand by Rooney, with the Man United skipper selected through each of his opening Premier League games at Old Trafford despite some ponderous showings.

Alas, ‘the Special One’ has axed ‘Wazza Roo’ from his 20-man Europa League squad for Thursday’s game at Feyenoord, which has caused some debate. It’s likely that Rooney is merely being rested ahead of the Watford tie this weekend, yet with the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba taken to the Netherlands, could there be more to it?

Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News puts forward an interesting theory as to Rooney’s exclusion, and it’s fair to say that the bulk of fans are happy that the Man United captain is staying in England for a variety of reasons:

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