Derby County manager, Wayne Rooney, has said the decline of his former club, Manchester United, started after the exit of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez whom he shared dressing room with.
Rooney said the last English Premier League title won by the club in 2013 was a miracle, adding that Robbie Van Persie was the one who gave the team a lift to win the title.
According to Mirror, Rooney said; “You could see after 2011; Ronaldo left in 2009, Tevez left and after that, you could see it was going to go backwards before it can move forward.
“That’s what I could see and that’s why I was asking the questions. Unfortunately, they probably still haven’t recovered from that to this day.
“It wasn’t a great team in 2013. For us to win that League title was a miracle, really, I think.
“A massive part of it was Van Persie. I think him coming in gave everyone a lift, coming in at number nine, scoring the goals he scored.
“That was a bit of a masterstroke from the manager, to bring him in and have him hungry because he was a bit older as well. He really carried us that season.”