Wayne Rooney can still play a big part but needs to show what he is truly made of

Wayne Rooney has to prove this is not the beginning of the end for him at Manchester United.

He can still play a big part at the club but he’ll need to summon those fighting qualities. The animal in him will react.

Rooney must keep calm and a level of dignity but inside he will feel like he is scrapping for his life. He will have to graft as he did as a young player to get back in the team.

There is a moment in every player’s career when their role will change. Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes continued to make huge contributions at Old Trafford deep into their thirties.

Like Giggs and Scholes, Rooney must be intelligent about the situation he faces. He can’t play in a deep-lying midfield role as he will struggle to cover the ground Ander Herrera did against Leicester.

But there’s no reason why he couldn’t play in the Juan Mata role. With Herrera deep and Paul Pogba and Mata further forward, there was far more balance to United’s midfield and Rooney would have succeeded in that system.

He needs to understand that this is his best role, playing higher up the pitch.

Rooney is not the only one who has suffered this season. Herrera has only started two league games and Mata was dropped for the Manchester derby.

In the coming weeks, we are going to see what Rooney is made of.