Rooney: I have matured at United

Wayne Rooney insists he has matured since joining Manchester United.

The £27m (€39m) star has shown flashes of his fiery nature in recent times and is currently suspended for both club and country following his Champions League dismissal in Villarreal and his booking in last month’s World Cup defeat to Northern Ireland.

Rooney’s caution in Belfast means he must sit out Saturday’s key Old Trafford encounter with Austria, before returning in the Group Six decider against Poland next Wednesday, a match refereed by Kim Milton Nielsen – the man who dismissed him in Spain for his sarcastic hand clapping.

There have been plenty of critics who have suggested it is now time for Sir Alex Ferguson and Sven-Goran Eriksson to drag Rooney back into line.

However, the 19-year-old former Everton star insists his behaviour is getting better, even if he still has some work to do.

“I feel I have matured, on and off the field and hopefully that will continue because I am trying to cut out silly bookings for dissent,” Rooney told Four Four Two magazine.

“Signing for United, there was always going to be a lot more pressure on me than playing for Everton.

“There are people out there trying to shoot you down. I have to be aware of that and it is something I had to understand really quickly.

“My life has changed a lot in the past year. I am getting used to it and I just try to lead as normal a life as possible outside of football.”

Photographs of Rooney getting mobbed on a shopping expedition in Manchester city centre yesterday prove how difficult leading a normal life can be for such a highly talented and high-profile individual.

He has already scored four times for United this term even though he started the campaign playing wide in support of lone front-man Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Those tactics changed dramatically at Fulham on Saturday, when Rooney was pushed in behind the prolific Dutchman.

The result was United’s most effective attacking performance of the campaign with both forwards scoring in a thrilling 3-2 win and Rooney admits it is a position he is more suited to, even if he doesn’t mind being moved onto the flanks.

“I class myself as a centre-forward and that is where I prefer to play,” he said.

“But I can play in different positions and I agree with the manager that it helps you as a player if you can do that.”