Rooney: I want to end my career at United

WAYNE ROONEY says he wants to end his career at Manchester United and emulate Ryan Giggs’ longevity at the club.

The 24-year-old says he is loving life more than ever at Old Trafford now he has been given the central attacking berth he craved.

“I would love to end my career at this club,” the England striker said.

“If I can get anywhere near what Ryan has done it would be an amazing achievement because I regard him as the perfect role model.

“You must have great respect for the way his life is and the way he handles himself. The things he has done throughout his career and the things he has won are unbelievable.

“Everyone looks up to him and if I even get close to the number of games he has played I would be delighted.”

As Giggs currently stands at 815 appearances ahead of Sunday’s showdown against Chelsea, with 11 league titles to his name, compared with 252 and three respectively for Rooney, the 24-year-old clearly has some way to go.

However, his pledge of loyalty is bound to be well received by the Old Trafford faithful as they will look to Rooney to lead the club into a new era once time has eventually caught up with Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville.

His affection for United dates back to his schoolboy days when, as an ardent Evertonian, he needed ammunition to hit back at the Liverpool fans who so often used to taunt him.

“United won most of the trophies in the 1990s and for me, as an Everton fan, it was a chance to have a go back at the Liverpool fans.

“When the Liverpool supporters started to bother me, I could always go on about United winning the league.

“Then, once I started playing for Everton and England, I could see the way United played.

“I knew a few of the players through England and they would tell me how good it was. The manager is great as well, someone any player would want to play for.

“All those things were factors in me coming to the club.”

Meanwhile ahead of Sunday’s trip to Stamford Bridge, Gary Neville has claimed United’s recent defensive frailties can be explained away by their constant changes of personnel.

After last season’s record-breaking feats, when they kept 14 successive Premier League clean sheets, United have been strangely vulnerable this term.

Tuesday’s six-goal Champions League thriller with CSKA Moscow was the second time they have conceded three goals in a game, while their seven shut-outs in all competitions this term represents less than a 50% success rate in keeping the opposition out.

Neville accepts there is an issue to address. But he is convinced once Alex Ferguson is able to select a settled back-four again, normal service will be resumed.

“We are interchanging the defence too regularly at the moment because of injuries and it has caused us a problem,” he said.

“We had to change our keeper for the opening two months of the season, then Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic have been injured. Before that it was Wes Brown. It means more changes than the manager would like.

“He wants a consistent back four, which is what we have had for two or three seasons.

“We definitely want to improve defensively and once we settle into our stride I am sure we will become better.”

Darren Fletcher, meanwhile, believes Sunday’s eagerly awaited showdown offers United a great chance to gain a psychological edge over Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

“There’s a long way to go yet in the title race, but Sunday’s game could be important psychologically,’’ he said.

“We’ll just concentrate on ourselves – we know we’re capable of going there and winning. It won’t be easy, but we’ll go there with a game plan and the manager will have a lot of options for the side he wants to pick and we’ll try and get a result.’’

Meanwhile Florent Malouda believes that Chelsea have “no choice’’ but to beat United, to take a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

The west London club have a two-point buffer over the Red Devils, and a draw will suffice if they are to retain the lead in the title race.

However, Malouda insists Ancelotti’s side will be looking for a win at Stamford Bridge.

“We have no choice, we have to win because we are two points in front and we want to stay in front,’’ said the winger.

“It’s going to be a big, big, big game and we have to play at our best level in front of our fans.

“We have a good home record and we’re trying to keep it. Before the international break it would be a good result to win at home.

“To be five points clear would be a good thing for us, we have never been five in front for a long time.’’