Will José Mourinho's Manchester United leave Wayne Rooney out in the cold?

LONDON. KAZINFORM - José Mourinho's purchase of Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Borussia Dortmund and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's free signing poses the question: what next for Wayne Rooney at Manchester United?
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Given that Ibrahimovic is an A-list No9, Anthony Martial's suitability there and the emergence last season of Marcus Rashford, Rooney's days appear numbered in the position, The Guardian reports.

No10 seems the captain's spiritual home. Yet Mkhitaryan is a dynamic, quick, creative footballer who can operate across the front and is a natural playmaker.

The 27-year-old made his name out wide in the past three seasons at Borussia Dortmund, switching between left and right. The Armenia captain, though, often operates in a central role for his country, and at Shakhtar Donetsk from 2010-13 he did the same.

Two days after he was signed on 6 July for around £30m, even the United website ran a feature entitled: "What is Mkhitaryan's best position?"
Mourinho's answer will be of interest to Rooney. The manager, who takes charge of United for the first time on Saturday in a friendly at Wigan Athletic, seemed clear in his first public comments on where Rooney will line up. He swatted aside the fact Louis van Gaal had deployed the 30-year-old as a deep-lying midfielder, a move followed by Roy Hodgson in England's calamitous Euro 2016 campaign.

"Maybe he is not a striker, not a No9 any more, but for me he will never be a No6, playing 50 metres from the goal," Mourinho said. "You can tell me his pass is amazing but my pass is also amazing without pressure. To be there and put the ball in the net is the most difficult thing. For me he will be a nine, a 10, a nine and a half - but never a six or an eight."

Examine these comments more closely and they become less black and white. Rooney may never be a six or an eight but after Mourinho states he is possibly not a centre-forward any more, he contradicts himself by saying "he will be a nine, a 10, a nine and a half". The sense here is that as the season develops Mourinho feels he may require a shoehorn to fit Rooney into his strongest XI.

Leaving aside the question of what a "nine and a half" may be, it seems that when United travel to Bournemouth on 14 August for their season opener, Rooney will be in the side as the No10, Ibrahimovic the No9 and Mkhitaryan on the right, with Martial on the left.

A born winner, Ibrahimovic is sure to shake up the United dressing room and act as Mourinho's on-field general. This should be a fillip for a side who have no Champions League football and who need to make a serious push for the title.

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