Wayne Rooney reveals what's been missing from the Man United dressing room since he left in 2017
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Charlie Grace
Wed 24 September 2025 17:30, UK
Wayne Rooney has pointed to one key piece that is missing from Manchester United’s dressing room as Ruben Amorim’s side prepare to face Brentford on Saturday.
Man United’s 2-1 win over Chelsea has bought Amorim time, and the Red Devils will now travel to Brentford in the hunt for back-to-back Premier League wins.
Credit: Imago
Man United’s summer signing Bryan Mbeumo will be reunited with his former Brentford teammates on Saturday, but ex-United captain Rooney feels the club need to add something more than attackers to their dressing room.
Speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s ‘Rio Meets’ podcast, Rooney said: “I left in 2017, and from our group there was only me and Michael Carrick left.
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“We looked at the players behind us and we thought, who is going to lead this dressing room?
Youngy [Ashley Young] was there, but you had no leadership group.
“Jesse [Lingard] was there, [Paul] Pogba, Marcus [Rashford], who are fantastic players, really good footballers, but actually, who was going to take responsibility and keep that soul in the dressing room, and I don’t think since me and Michael left that’s been there,” he said.
Following United’s win over Chelsea, many hailed the performance of Matthijs De Ligt, who had one of his best performances since joining the club.
Matthijs De Ligt senior league appearances by clubAppsAgeJong Ajax (2016-17)1716Ajax (2016-2019)7716-18Juventus (2019-2022)8719-21Bayern Munich (2022-2024)5322-23Manchester United (2024-present)3424-Matthijs De Ligt senior appearances in his career (FBref)
Having captained Ajax at 19 and featured in 268 senior league matches, De Ligt has plenty of leadership experience despite having just turned 26.