The criticism over Wayne Rooney's position for Manchester United and England has been dismissed as "rubbish" by club great Paddy Crerand.
Rooney's regular position in the United side has been under scrutiny after 18-year-old Marcus Rashford's impressive form and Anthony Martial's recent goal-scoring exploits, while the England captain's place in the national team appears under even more threat, considering the form of Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy.
But Crerand, who was a senior player in midfield when United won the European Cup in 1968, believes that Rooney will be important in guiding the current crop of young players forward at Old Trafford.
"That's all rubbish, that. That's all paper talk," Crerand told ESPN FC. "Of course he is going to be important. One of the reasons I came down to the under-21s game [against Chelsea on Monday night] was that there were a lot of rumours going about that Wayne would be playing."
Although Rooney did not feature on Monday, manager Louis van Gaal has said that the striker is set to play in an U21s match before returning to first-team action. The next U21s game is against Middlesbrough at Old Trafford on Monday night.
One man who did feature in the game against Chelsea was Ashley Young and the winger was impressive as he completed 90 minutes.
United have been using Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata as either right-sided attacking midfielders or in the No 10 role recently -- but Crerand believes that Young could offer some much-needed width.
"I think it's great to see Ashley Young back. He's such an important player, he's a wide player," the 77-year-old said. "We don't have many wide players at the present moment in time. They started him at centre-forward [on Monday] but he looked really fit. He should be alright and maybe in the squad for Tottenham on Sunday."