Manchester United transfer news: Jose Mourinho says he will 'never' sell Wayne Rooney after dropping him

Mourinho says the decision to drop the United captain was hard enough, and promises never to sell him as long as he wants to stay at Old Trafford

Rooney has been dropped from United's starting line-up by Mourinho (Getty)

Wayne Rooney has already been dropped from the Manchester United starting line-up, but Jose Mourinho insists that is as bad as it will get for the club captain as he will never sell the striker while he is in charge at Old Trafford.

Rooney looks set to miss Sunday’s trip to Chelsea after suffering a muscular injury in training this week, having returned to training for the midweek Europa League victory over Fenerbahce. The United captain was unlikely to make Mourinho’s starting line-up for his return to Stamford Bridge though, but at least the manager has given him his public support by claiming he will never be sold.

Asked by Sky Sports if he would force Rooney out of United, Mourinho said: “No, never. I will never make that decision. A player of his stature, a player of his history in the club will never go to a point where club or manager want to make that decision for him.

“I put him [Rooney] on the bench for three matches in a row. That is hard for him, hard for me, so that is being ruthless, to put in my mind the interests of the team in front of the player, prestige, status. In this case even legend. To put on [the] bench a player with the numbers he has for club and country is hard.

“But as we were saying before, this is an industry where the people who leads, sometimes in a correct decision, sometimes not correct decisions, but in our mind the decisions we think is the best for the team.”

Rooney has had to face questions over his hunger for the game since the 4-1 win over Fenerbahce, with the striker turning down two penalties to allow Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial to get on the scoresheet.

Former United striker Michael Owen suggested that Rooney had lost the “hunger” that made him such a threat when he burst on the Premier Leagues scene 14 years ago, given that he was suddenly turning down chances to score.

But despite his disappointing form this season for club and country in which he has scored just once in 15 appearances, Mourinho is willing to stand by the £260,000-a-week forward for the foreseeable future.