Football
Arindam Rej, Man United Correspondent 7y

Man United boss Jose Mourinho: I will never sell Wayne Rooney

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has said that he will never force Wayne Rooney to leave the club and admitted that it has been "hard" to put the forward on the bench.

Rooney, 30, had been a regular starter in the Premier League in the first five games of the season, but he has been on the bench -- eventually coming on as a late substitute -- in the past three United matches.

When asked by Sky Sports if he would be ruthless enough to sell Rooney, Mourinho said: "No, never. I will never make that decision. A player of his stature, a player of his history in the club will never go to point where club or manager want to make that decision for him.

"I put him on the bench for three matches in a row. That is hard for him, hard for me, so that is being ruthless, to put in my mind the interests of the team in front of the player, prestige, status. In this case even legend. To put on the bench a player with the numbers he has, for club and country, is hard.

"But this is an industry where the people lead, sometimes make a correct decision, sometimes a not correct decision, but in our minds make the decisions we think are the best for the team." 

The United manager believes that Rooney has also been a victim of his own success from years gone by, having raised people's expectations about what he can deliver.

In Rooney's last start for England, against Malta, he was even jeered by some of the crowd -- and then named as a substitute for the next match against Slovenia.

"For me, that's a problem," Mourinho added. "I think, in this country it happens to everyone. It is just your nature -- you build people, you kill people, you build again and you destroy again. And I think it is just the nature of the business."

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