It is safe to say that Manchester United are nowhere near the club that they once were at this point of time. Since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, the Red Devils have struggled to the point were they are no longer sure-shot finishers in the top four of the Premier League on a consistent basis. That would have been almost unthinkable around a decade ago but that is where we stand right now.
One player who was a major part of the incredibly successful Manchester United side of the 2000s is Wayne Rooney.
Unlike many though, he was also a part of the team that struggled in the post-Ferguson era and has seen both sides of the coin.
And Rooney has pinpointed when Manchester United’s decline as a football team started, over a decade ago. As reported by the Mirror, the club’s all-time record goalscorer said:
"“You could see after 2011; Ronaldo left in 2009, Tevez left and after that you could see it was going to go backwards before it can move forwards.“That’s what I could see and that’s why I was asking the questions. Unfortunately, they probably still haven’t recovered from that to this day.”"
Rooney reveals when Manchester United’s decline started
It is safe to say that over the past decade or so, Manchester United have slipped down the English footballing ladder to the point where they have not even been considered as serious Premier League title contenders for a while now.
They have finished second a couple of times, but on neither occasion were they even close to taking the title race down to the wire.
And while there have been several occasions when it has looked like Manchester United have finally turned the page and are ready to challenge for titles once again, it has never turned out to be the case.
This season is a brilliant example of that. The club brought back Cristiano Ronaldo, while also signing superstars like Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane, but have ended up taking a step back and appear to be in need of another squad rebuild next summer.