Not Ronaldo? Rooney says only 4 players from legendary Man Utd team would get into Man City team

The former Red Devils striker reckons only four members of the legendary 2008 squad could make it into Man City’s current team.

Wayne Rooney feels himself, Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand, and Nemanja Vidic are the only members of Manchester United’s 2007/08 side that would get into the current Manchester City team.

Rooney’s admiration for Man City is so high, he believes the Premier League leaders would have outplayed his old side – even at their peak in 2007/08.

Not even a 23-year-old Ronaldo, who won the first of his five Ballon d’Or awards in 2008, would’ve made the cut under Pep Guardiola.

“Could the 2008 Manchester United team have competed with Man City? Head to head, we’d have had a good chance but over a 38-game season they would have had the edge,” Rooney told The Times.

“I think we’d have been similar to Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool, able to beat them in one-off games but usually just a bit behind them in the final league table.

“There were players in our team who would have got into this City side. Paul Scholes would have been perfect, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic too. I believe I would have fitted into it as well – and I would have loved to play with Kevin De Bruyne and Haaland.”

Is this Man City squad as great as United’s 1999 treble winners?

If Manchester City win the treble this season, Rooney believes they will have cemented their place among some of the greatest Premier League teams in history.

“If they win the Champions League and the title, much as it pains me, I think you’d have to put City up there with United’s 1999 treble winners as the best Premier League team of all time,” the now-DC United manager added.

“Our 2008 United team were also a great side but the way City dominate opponents and make it look so easy, so often – while constantly fighting on all fronts – is beyond what we did.

“Of course, City have won nothing yet this season and still have to get over the line so let’s leave the big judgments until they do.

“But my reason for saying that they have the potential to be up there with the greatest is that another Premier League title would be their fifth in six seasons and they have raised the bar for everyone else.

“All United fans, myself included, have to look at what Guardiola’s City are doing and understand the extraordinary level that our club will have to reach to be No 1 again.”

“Wayne Rooney” by nasmac is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.