German World Cup winner Paul Breitner feels Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney belongs to the top echelons of players in world football.

After a season where they finished seventh in the league last season, Manchester United are trying to recover their pre-eminent status in English football and Rooney is in the forefront of getting the club back to where they feel they belong.




Despite spending a major chunk of the season as a midfielder, the Manchester United captain is still the club’s top goalscorer and is on his way to breaking Sir Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring record for both club and country.

Manchester United spent heavily last summer to recruit players such as Angel di Maria and Radamel Falcao, but Rooney still enjoys the status of being the top dog at Old Trafford and Breitner feels the same and that despite having some stellar names in their squad the England captain continues to be the club’s number one star.
 


"You have so many outstanding players in your team and in your squad”, Breitner told the club’s official site.

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“But, of course, if you talk right now about the players of Manchester United then, in Europe and in world football, the number one is Wayne Rooney.”

Many feel Rooney hasn’t done justice to the raw potential that he showed at a young age, but the former German international doesn’t agree with that notion.

The World Cup winner feels the England captain belongs to the level of the best players in the world and moreover he symbolises the rich history and tradition of Manchester United.

"If you have a player at the level of [Cristiano] Ronaldo, [Lionel] Messi or [Franck] Ribery for instance, you are always thinking of him, Wayne Rooney, [as well] because he is for many, many football fans and hundreds of millions of people, he is Manchester United.

“He is apart from the other great players you have. He is a man who embodies all the history of the club.”

Rooney has scored 229 goals for Manchester United, 20 short of Charlton’s club record for the most number of goals. He is also on his way to breaking the legend’s goalscoring record for England with 46 goals already to his name.

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