Manchester United: Wayne Rooney may not have equalled Sir Bobby Charlton's goalscoring record

Charlton actually scored 251 Manchester United goals

Rooney scored his 249th Manchester United goal in the win over Reading (Getty)

Wayne Rooney officially drew level with Sir Bobby Charlton to become Manchester United’s joint all-time record goalscorer in the FA Cup against Reading on Saturday.

His goal saw him equal Charlton’s record of 249 goals for the Red Devils, over a year after breaking his record at international level with England.

However, there is an argument that Rooney did not in fact level Charlton’s record with the history books revealing the 79-year-old actually managed 251 goals for the club.

In the last of his 758 recognised appearances for United in April 1973, Charlton had 249 goals, although he went on to play in the Anglo-Italian Cup a week later against Verona, scoring two goals.

The game was an official game organised between the Football Association, the Italian FA and Uefa, but the goals, and the appearance, is not recognised by United as it was not considered a ‘first-class game competition’.

United insist Charlton’s last-ever game was the 1-0 defeat to Chelsea, and not the game against Verona.

Despite this, the yellow cards picked up in the fixture contributed towards suspensions for players, leading many to claim the goals should also stand.

Therefore Charlton actually scored 251 goals for United, and not the 249 officially recognised, leaving it up for debate whether Rooney is actually the club’s joint all-time record goalscorer.

But in the club’s eyes, and record books, no player has scored more goals for Manchester United that Rooney.