Rooney: Sir Alex is the greatest ever... but we had our differences!

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney says he and former boss Sir Alex Ferguson had disagreements during the Scotsman's last year at Old Trafford. 

Ferguson's final season at Old Trafford was a testing one for the England captain, as he saw Robin van Persie occupy the main striking role, and the forward soon showed a desire to leave Old Trafford.

Rooney, who equalled Sir Bobby Charlton's England goalscoring record in Saturday's 6-0 win over San Marino, admittted that he had disagreements with the former manager during the 2013-14 campaign.

“We had differences of opinion, but that’s normal,” said Rooney.

“Ask Roy Hodgson. He’s had differences with players over the years, too. That’s part of football.

"I’m not the only person who had differences with Sir Alex Ferguson but I can still sit here and say he was the greatest manager of all time.

“I still see Sir Alex quite a bit at games and he travels away to European games with us.

"It’s not that we don’t like each other. We just had differences. That’s normal.”

The England captain also looked forward to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, setting the tournament as a target for what may be his final competition in the Three Lions' colours.

And Rooney suggested that he would never rule himself out of England selection, admitting that it would require the decision of a manger to remove him from the national team set-up. 

“Realistically 2018 is a target for me, to go and play that World Cup, and then we will see what happens in terms of the manager or myself," Rooney added. 

"I’ll listen to my body but, if I still feel 100 per cent fit for England and I can do my job then we will see what happens after that.

“If I feel I can carry on, I’ll try. But I won’t be one to say I’m not available for selection. I’m sure it’ll probably be the manager’s choice more than mine.

"It’s a huge honour to play for England and I imagine it’ll be difficult to say I’m ready not to play.”