Messi or Ronaldo would break my Man Utd goal record within four years –Rooney

England and Manchester United legend, Wayne Rooney has admitted that his goal record at Old Trafford was not a mountain too high for players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to climb.

Rooney, who scored 253 goals for the Red Devils between 2004 and 2017, said Ronaldo or Messi would break the record within four years if either was to come to United.

Writing in his Sunday Times column, 34-year-old Rooney said he was not a natural goal scorer, and credited his many goals to the fact he stayed so many years at one club.

“I hold the goal records for Manchester United and England (53 goals) and I’m very proud about that – yet there have been better number nines than me,” he wrote.

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“How did I become a record-breaker if I wasn’t a natural scorer? Time.

“I played for United for 13 years, England for 15 years. I had time to break those records – and looking back I should have scored more.”

Rooney, now Derby County player-coach, added that he does not think his England record would be difficult to break, as he expects Harry Kane to surpass 53 goals in few years.

On his United record however, Rooney said it would be difficult to break seeing that players don’t stay at one club for long these days, but gave Ronaldo and Messi as exceptions.

“The United record might last longer simply because players don’t stay at clubs as long as they used to.

“Mind you, if Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo came to Old Trafford for a swansong they would probably break it in three or four years,” he concluded.

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