Wayne Rooney has the body of a 40-YEAR-OLD after years of pressure and scrutiny, claims pal Rio Ferdinand
Ex-Manchester United defender believes the forward's record-breaking strike will give him a new lease of life
RIO FERDINAND believes Wayne Rooney has the body of a 40-year-old because pressure and stress have taken their toll on the forward.
The Manchester United captain has found himself playing a substitute role this season under boss Jose Mourinho with the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Juan Mata favoured in the starting XI.
Rooney finally broke Sir Bobby Charlton's goalscoring record with a stunning free-kick - his 250th goal for the club.
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And despite believing scrutiny and his own work ethic has slowed Rooney's progress down, Ferdinand admits his latest strike will give him a new lease of life.
, he said: "He is 31-years-old but he has probably got the mileage of a 36-year-old with what he has done in his career and the velocity that he plays at, the scrutiny and the pressure.
"In fact, he is probably in a 40-year-old athlete's body.
"Most of the games he has played, especially in the first 13 years, his stats showed he had probably out-run everybody in the team - as he was always telling us!
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"The big thing for Wayne Rooney has been to get through that barrier of 250 goals for Manchester United.
"That is a lot of pressure. People were always talking about it. Every time he was asked about it and was thinking about it in the back of his mind."
"Getting there might just release a fresher Wayne Rooney. But you cannot get away from when your body is telling you one thing. Wayne Rooney is the only person who will know it is over."
Ferdinand also confirmed that the 31-year-old could have been a bigger star than Cristiano Ronaldo if he was more selfish.
He added: "Cristiano had an absolute desire to be the best individual in the world.
“Wayne would say: ‘I want to be the world’s best but I’ll do it by being a team player’."