Wayne Rooney makes controversial claim about injured Man United players after loss vs. Arsenal | OneFootball

Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has shockingly claimed that some of the injured players currently on the club’s payroll are fit enough to play but are seemingly choosing not to due to their own selfish reasons.

Rooney spoke on Sky Sports after United suffered a 1-0 loss at the hands of Arsenal. A 20th-minute Leandro Trossard goal was enough to sink the Red Devils and pile further misery on Erik ten Hag and his players.

The result was United’s 14th defeat of the season, adding to a total of 19 losses across all competitions – the highest in a single campaign for United since the 1977/78 campaign.

On multiple occasions this term, Ten Hag has attributed United’s misfortunes to the team’s injury crisis.

United have reported more than 60 instances of players missing games due to illness or injury.

At the moment, the likes of Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez, Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Raphael Varane, Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia, Mason Mount and Anthony Martial are currently sidelined or not yet fully match-fit to line up for the club.

However, according to Rooney (via The Express), some of these mentioned players are using the injury excuse as just a way of skipping fixtures in favour of preparing for the upcoming Wembley FA Cup final or the 2024 European Championships.

If Rooney’s words are anything to go by, some of the players saying they’re injured are lying about their fitness.

The former England international said, “Some of these players have to look at themselves because when your manager is doing an interview and talking about attitudes not being right to play for Manchester United, that is a massive insult.”

“If I saw my manager saying that, there’s no way I’d let that ride until the end of the season. And it looks like some players are just trying to get to the end of the season. And that’s my personal opinion.”

Sky presented David Jones asked Rooney whether the player are not playing for Ten Hag anymore.

United’s record goalscorer added, “If they are then they’re not showing it very well. There’s some very good players in that squad and their performances are way below par.”

“As we look at the injuries they’ve picked up, some of those players can play. Some of those players can play, 100 per cent.”

Jones retorted, “That’s quite a big claim that, you’re saying some Manchester United players who we’re not seeing out there now are fit enough to play?”

Rooney replied, “It’s easy when you’ve got a European Championships and FA Cup Final coming up, it’s easy because they’re getting a little bit of stick to stay out of it and come back towards the final. You’ve seen it, I’ve seen it over the years.”

“I just think the players that have been ‘injured’, they’re not filling themselves with any credit.”

All attention for United now shifts towards their Wednesday clash against Eddie Howe’s Newcastle.

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