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United tell 'fit' Rooney to hold fire
Manchester United are having to rein in Wayne Rooney's enthusiasm to make a first team return ahead of schedule.
The 21-year-old England striker was ruled out for six weeks, including England's crucial European Championship qualifiers against Israel and Russia on September 8 and 12, after breaking a metatarsal for the third time in his career during United's opening Premier League fixture against Reading.
However, he has declared himself "fit and ready to play" to team-mates and is eager to figure as soon as possible — even believing he could return ahead of his newly-scheduled comeback at Everton on September 15.
Indeed, manager Sir Alex Ferguson revealed the striker's desire to return last weekend.
Ferguson said: "Rooney's fine. He's jogging and he even wanted to play against Spurs! Typical Rooney, he wanted to play with an injection. It's quite possible he'll be back in three weeks."
England manager Steve McClaren is set to name his squad tomorrow, but United insist there is no chance of them allowing any risks to be taken over their star player's recovery.
The club are mindful of Rooney's appearance in the World Cup last year when his powers of recovery from another broken metatarsal surprised doctors but he returned from the tournament nursing a groin injury as club insiders believed his body over-compensated.
United have been working with Nike to study Rooney's bone structure, the way he runs and his footwear to try to avoid a repeat of the injury.
Ferguson said: "We're looking at his running style. It is very powerful and he comes down heavily on the ground. I went across the whole range of issues involved with Nike and they are not slow in getting solutions to make sure everyone's happy, particularly their players."
Meanwhile, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer underwent another operation yesterday on the knee injury that forced him to announce his retirement earlier this week.
The 34-year-old Norwegian plans to take his coaching badges and hopes to start a new career at United.
He said: "I wanted to play on but, when the knee blew up again last week and I realised I'd reached the end of the line and what the manager needed for United, I had an easy decision really. "Once I get my official UEFA badges we will see what happens. I've not had a meeting yet about what capacity the manager wants me but we've had little chats."
Manchester United are having to rein in Wayne Rooney's enthusiasm to make a first team return ahead of schedule.
The 21-year-old England striker was ruled out for six weeks, including England's crucial European Championship qualifiers against Israel and Russia on September 8 and 12, after breaking a metatarsal for the third time in his career during United's opening Premier League fixture against Reading.
However, he has declared himself "fit and ready to play" to team-mates and is eager to figure as soon as possible — even believing he could return ahead of his newly-scheduled comeback at Everton on September 15.
Indeed, manager Sir Alex Ferguson revealed the striker's desire to return last weekend.
Ferguson said: "Rooney's fine. He's jogging and he even wanted to play against Spurs! Typical Rooney, he wanted to play with an injection. It's quite possible he'll be back in three weeks."
England manager Steve McClaren is set to name his squad tomorrow, but United insist there is no chance of them allowing any risks to be taken over their star player's recovery.
The club are mindful of Rooney's appearance in the World Cup last year when his powers of recovery from another broken metatarsal surprised doctors but he returned from the tournament nursing a groin injury as club insiders believed his body over-compensated.
United have been working with Nike to study Rooney's bone structure, the way he runs and his footwear to try to avoid a repeat of the injury.
Ferguson said: "We're looking at his running style. It is very powerful and he comes down heavily on the ground. I went across the whole range of issues involved with Nike and they are not slow in getting solutions to make sure everyone's happy, particularly their players."
Meanwhile, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer underwent another operation yesterday on the knee injury that forced him to announce his retirement earlier this week.
The 34-year-old Norwegian plans to take his coaching badges and hopes to start a new career at United.
He said: "I wanted to play on but, when the knee blew up again last week and I realised I'd reached the end of the line and what the manager needed for United, I had an easy decision really. "Once I get my official UEFA badges we will see what happens. I've not had a meeting yet about what capacity the manager wants me but we've had little chats."
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