Sir Alex Ferguson has reiterated his desire to deploy Wayne
Rooney in a central striking role, imploring the Manchester United
forward to keep his wandering to a limit.
Ferguson recognised that it was in Rooney’s determined nature to
want to get involved at every opportunity.
He told Inside United magazine: "The boy's got a real
hunger and drive about him. He has so much energy that sometimes he
overdoes it in the sense that he wants to use it all; he'll drop
into midfield or he'll go outside left.
"But he's young, and young players tend to sometimes be that way -
they want to spend all their energy on the pitch."
Ferguson consistently played Rooney in deeper roles last season,
often to accommodate the talents of Cristiano Ronaldo. With the
Portugal forward now at Real Madrid, the United boss has given the
responsibility to his Scouse striker to lead the line.
The move has paid instant dividends this season, with the former
Everton man topping the scoring charts with four Premier League
goals thus far in 2009-10.
Ferguson said, "If he concentrates like he did at Wigan and spends
more time in the central areas rather than the wide positions then
he will get goals. There's no doubt about that."
Rooney has been a prolific goal-scorer since joining United in
2004, but Ferguson suspects Sir Bobby Charlton's club goals record
at Old Trafford will be difficult to beat.
"It'll be very tough," the Scot said. "Sir Bobby's record is 249
goals, so at this stage of Wayne's career I'd say he'll have to do
very well to get anywhere near that."