Wayne Rooney has advised Manchester United and Arsenal that unless they assemble their squad around a suitable No. 9, they will not be able to scale through.
The Gunners and United drew 1-1 on Sunday, but neither team are happy with a point, as United are still in the bottom half of the Premier League standings and Arsenal are now 15 points behind Liverpool in the title race.
Both teams are anticipated to look for a new striker this summer after struggling recently to score goals in the league.
According to The Mirror, Rooney believes they share the same issue with goal scorers and cited Liverpool’s ability to maintain the scoring pace despite Darwin Nunez, their number nine, not scoring many goals this season.
See Also: Lewandowski Set To Break Neymar And Ronaldinho’s Record At Barcelona
“I always feel the teams with the best number nines have the best chance of winning things,” Rooney said on Match of the Day 2.
“Liverpool are probably an exception to that, with the way they rotate the player they use through the middle, rather than having a regular number nine that the team is built around.
“The number nine is still so important for them, though. Mohamed Salah, cutting in from wide areas, is their main goalscorer but, whether it is Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota or Darwin Nunez in the centre, they all chip in with a good amount of goals.”
Arsenal are set to welcome PSV in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League Round 16 following their 7-1 bashing of the Eredivisie side in Eindhoven.
Man United on the other hand, will entertain Real Sociedad in the return leg of the Europa League after playing 1-1 draw in Spain.
COMMENTS