Mourinho having second thoughts about starting Rooney

Manager Jose Mourinho may not start Wayne Rooney against Zorya Luhansk in the Europa League tonight because he fears the Manchester United captain cannot afford a below-par display.

Rooney was left out of the team for the 4-1 home Premier League win against Leicester on Saturday after heavy criticism of his recent performances.

Mourinho insisted his decision was based on exploiting Leicester’s weaknesses rather than as a reaction to Rooney’s form and that he planned to start him tonight.

But Rooney only returned to full training yesterday after a slightback problem, causing Mourinho to have second thoughts.

The manager said: “Wayne is selected, I haven’t decided yet if I start with him. He didn’t train on Tuesday and he did just a little bit of the session on Monday.

“Yesterday was the first time that he had a training session with the other players.

“I was completely convinced about playing him from the beginning. But with this situation in the last couple of days I’m not sure if I’ll do that because he can’t afford to have a performance that is not really good.

“Because I’m here to protect him and not to put him in difficult situations, I have to analyse if the best thing for him is to start the game if he is not totally ready for it.

“I’m going to discuss it with him and the medical staff.”

United’s performance without Rooney against Leicester only served to increase the spotlight on the 30-year-old’s future.

Mourinho confirmed Henrikh Mkhitaryan will again miss out with a thigh problem, although he did train on yesterday, while full back Luke Shaw was sent home because of illness.

But midfielder Anthony Martial is fit and attacker Zlatan Ibrahimovic will start.

There had been rumours the 34-year-old would be rested but, with the international break coming up and Ibrahimovic having retired from Sweden duty, Mourinho sees no problem in him playing tonight and at the weekend against Stoke.

United lost their opening Europa League game against Feyenoord two weeks ago, one of three defeats in a row, andMourinho feels there is now little room for manoeuvre if they are to reach the last 32.

He has been studying little- known Ukrainian side Zorya and said: “It’s important. If we don’t win we have four matches left and I’d say we have to win all the last four matches, which is difficult.”

Jose Mourinho