Wayne Rooney has revealed his admiration for his former England teammate

Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney has revealed his admiration for his former England teammate, Steven Gerrard, in a recent interview.

Gerrard’s time in English football recently came to an end after he moved to LA Galaxy on a free transfer. The 35-year-old has been one of the influential players in the Premier League over the last decade. Rooney would also join in that illustrious list and he plans to follow in the footsteps of Gerrard towards the end of his career. This comes as a major hint that he would consider the MLS for his retirement plans.

Rooney also says that one of the aspects that made Gerrard extremely popular was that he was a leader of men on the pitch. Off the pitch, he considers his former United teammate Gary Neville in this league. The 29-year-old will look to captain United in the same way Gerrard did for several years. After looking to have lost his ability to captain United to Robin van Persie, Rooney has firmly established himself as the most important player at the club. He was named as the United captain on a permanent basis by manager Louis van Gaal last season. Rooney says that this may have come as a result of being extremely vocal on the pitch.

“I think on the pitch probably Steven Gerrard is the one you look at. In difficult situations he has been a leader. Off the pitch, Gary Neville was fantastic for the players and made sure everything was organized. Other lads like David Beckham and Nemanja Vidic were great captains in their own way. I was always quite vocal and the good thing about those players was that they weren’t captains who said their piece and that was it. You always had your own voice, which you could say back to them with your ideas as well,” said Rooney.