Wayne Rooney reveals Man Utd dressing room secret that differs to Jose Mourinho’s reign

Rooney joined United as a pugnacious 18-year-old in 2004 and went on to become the club’s all-time top goalscorer.

In a 13-year span at Old Trafford, Rooney won five Premier League titles and one Champions League among many other trophies.

After Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013, Rooney was named club captain, affirming his seniority in the dressing room.

Now at DC United, Rooney has flourished in the MLS since his summer move from Everton.

And the 32-year-old spoke of how egotistical new signings would be quickly brought down to earth upon joining the club during United’s most successful years.

“That would never be allowed to happen,” Rooney told NBCSN TV show Men In Blazers.

“The likes of Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand, myself – players who had Man United in them and wanted the best for that club – would never allow anyone to mess that up.”

The current Old Trafford dressing room has been portrayed as fractured amid bust-ups between Mourinho and senior players such as Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez.

Even recently, club captain Antonio Valencia jeopardised his leadership role by accidentally liking an Instagram photo which suggested Mourinho should be sacked.

In contrast, Rooney recollected: “We controlled the dressing room ourselves. Alex Ferguson didn’t really need to control that.

“The players had the trust of the manager to do that themselves.”

Rooney did inadvertently defend Mourinho’s style of play, however, which has been portrayed as cyclical and apathetic.

“People talk about our team – especially in relation to Manchester United now – and say it was attack, attack, attack. But we actually weren’t,” Rooney explained.

“A lot of games we played on the counter attack, drew teams into us and then broke with pace. We did it to Arsenal.

“It wasn’t all ‘let’s just go out and attack’ it was a bit more calculated against certain opponents which brought the best out of myself.

“We had the team built to hit teams on the break and we were devastating at it.”