THE REIGN OF WAYNE CAN GO ON & ON & ON

Carrick backs United legend Rooney to keep playing in midfield role for years & give his old club trouble tonight

MICHAEL CARRICK says Wayne Rooney could thrive in his own defensive midfield role for years to come.

More importantly, he warns his former club Manchester United that the Derby talisman has the tools to hurt them tonight, even from there.

Rooney lines up against the team he used to captain, looking to improve on his record of having lost every game he has played against the club he served for 15 years.

“It will be strange for him, playing once more against Manchester United,” said Carrick. “But I’m sure he’s relishing it at the same time.

“He’s playing a bit deeper, though. We played together in the FA Cup final in that position, when we last won it in 2016 (both below).

“He was going down that route, then he went back up front again. He can adapt. He has the quality to adapt, whether he plays as a striker or midfielder.

“I am not surprised he has gone to that stage now and is doing well. It is intelligence and what comes naturally to him. He is quality. Pure quality.

“It is nice just to see him back, playing well. He had a spell away in America. In some ways, you wouldn’t expect him to come back and play in England again.

“That was his retirement plan, going over there, but it is nice to see him back and playing well.”

Those qualities also mean Carrick expects there is plenty more to come from what has already been a long life in high-level football.

“From the time when he scored against Arsenal for Everton – I mean, he was a name before that – but that was an explosion on the scene,” Carrick recalled.

“We’re talking about young lads dealing with pressures and press and media. He almost didn’t care about that and every time something was asked of him he stepped up and embraced it and grew even bigger.

“Just an incredible talent, almost freakish in the way he could deal with things and his mentality was incredible.

“Now I’d say he is likely to go into coaching.

“He knows the game so well, he’s intelligent on the pitch and he’s gone on to lead like he did in his final years at United, as one of the older ones with me in the dressing room.

“So he definitely took that role on.

“Therefore it wouldn’t surprise me if he stayed in the game for a long time.”

Rooney is only 34 with several years on Carrick, who realised his playing days were over at 37.

“I can see why some lads want to play on, regardless of where it is, but it just wasn’t for me,” Carrick said.

“I had had enough of playing by the end.

“My career was done and I was happy with it. I think it comes when you know that you are not quite at it and you cannot quite do physically what you think you should be able to do.

“In my last season, I played against Huddersfield in the FA Cup and I hadn’t played for a little bit and realised I was half a yard off here and there. I knew that was me done.”