Wayne Rooney: Manchester United can challenge for the title next season

Posted Friday, June 26, 2015 by theguardian.com

• ‘With a couple of signings we will have a good chance of doing that’
• England captain pleased to avoid ‘disaster’ of not finishing in top four

Wayne Rooney: Manchester United can challenge for the title next season
Wayne Rooney believes Manchester United can improve on last season's fourth place.

Wayne Rooney believes Manchester United can challenge for the Premier League title next season, although the England captain has admitted that Louis van Gaal’s squad will need strengthening if they are to climb the table.

After finishing seventh in 2013/14 under David Moyes, United again got off to a slow start last season despite the arrival of Van Gaal, recording just three wins from their first 10 matches. Their form improved considerably after Christmas as the Dutchman guided United to a fourth-placed finish.

Now Rooney is hoping they can build on that momentum and challenge at the top for the first time since winning their 20th title in 2012/13.

''I honestly believe we will go far next year and won’t be far off challenging for the league,” Rooney said.

''If you look at the first 10 to 11 games we only had around 13 points, and if you look at where we finished I think it shows we could have been up there with a better start. We’ve dominated and outplayed most teams this season but haven’t taken our chances to win those games, it could have been a different story if we had.

''The most important thing is that as a squad, including the manager and myself, we believe we are close to challenging for the title and with a couple of signings we will have a good chance of doing that.

''It would be good to win as many cups as possible, a club like Manchester United should be winning trophies and hopefully next season we can put that right.”

Rooney added: “Our main target this year was to get back into the top four, and we have done that so in that sense it’s not bad at all.

''You have to realise that at the start of the season we had a new manager, new coaches and a lot of new players, so it was always going to be a tough ask for us to go and win the Premier League.

''It was a bit disappointing not to win any silverware, especially the FA Cup after the defeat to Arsenal in the quarter-finals; we had a great chance of going on to win that.

''After last season it would have been a disaster if we didn’t get that Champions League spot, but the main thing is that the club is now back where it belongs.”