Wayne Rooney says Harry Maguire needs to think about his future as the manager “doesn’t believe in him” – Man United News And Transfer News

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Wayne Rooney does know a thing or two about dwindling influence on the team and leaving eventually.

United’s record goalscorer accepted his reduced status near the end of his time at the club and eventually moved to Everton to start afresh.

In an interview with David Ornstein of The Athletic, he suggested current captain Harry Maguire also “think on what he does moving forward” and the “best thing now is probably for him to move”.

Rooney added that having the armband taken off of Maguire begs the question of how he moves forward with the club as it shows that the “manager really doesn’t believe in him”.

Maguire was stripped of the captaincy after discussions with the manager Erik ten Hag.

Since then, the club has made a surprise centre-back signing of Jonny Evans, further clogging up that position for the English defender.

Discussions on Man United’s new captain are already underway but the future of Maguire shows no signs of resolution any time soon.

West Ham United have been credited with an interest and a loan offer was recently knocked back for him.

At Maguire’s end, reports have indicated that he wants to stay and fight for his place in the team after last season, where he played less than 1,000 minutes in the Premier League.

Even makeshift centre-back Luke Shaw was preferred to him as his importance to the club reached an all-time low.

His contract runs till 2025 with a club option to extend it by a year, which is unlikely to be triggered.

With his wages of close to £200k/week, shifting him would be a huge loss-making venture, and that is without considering that the player doesn’t want to leave in the first place.

Perhaps he would be wise to heed Rooney’s advice and seek a move to play regularly elsewhere as his performances for the national team have repeatedly shown that he is still a very good contributor in the right system for him.