'Does he know about coaching?' - Man Utd warned off bringing back Wayne Rooney to help blundering attack as former title-winning full-back points to catastrophic Birmingham & Plymouth failures

Rooney, who is the Red Devils’ all-time leading goalscorer, finds himself out of work after seeing a 25-game spell in charge of Championship side Plymouth brought to a close. He previously lasted just 83 days alongside NFL icon Tom Brady at Birmingham.

The ex-England captain is enjoying a welcome break with his family for now, but is leaving himself open to punditry and coaching offers. Rooney has revealed that he would be prepared to fill Under-21 and backroom posts, leading to suggestions that he could return to Old Trafford in order to work with a misfiring attacking unit.

Ex-United defender Paul Parker, who won two Premier League titles with the club, is not convinced that a move should be made for Rooney. He has told GOAL while speaking in association with Instant Casino: “Given the age he is, I think him [Amorim] and Wayne would have come across each other at some point – he might have played against Braga.

“I don’t think he’d put himself in that position, I don’t think anyone would, to bring back someone like Rooney. Rooney hasn’t done great as a manager, it hasn’t worked out at all, but to bring back someone like him… he let [Ruud] van Nistelrooy go because he knew he didn’t need that.

“In this situation, you will get fans that say ‘use him, he’s this, he’s that, he knows the club’. Wayne does know Manchester United. Does he know about coaching? It’s been proven he doesn’t know enough at this moment.

“To bring Wayne back, to even coach the centre-forwards, isn’t really going to work. He has been at Salford City, doing something there. But he is going to have to go backwards to go forwards again and learn a bit more.

“He has accepted to go into jobs when you look at his coaching experience, he hasn’t got enough there for him. It’s not the way to go. He’s going to want to do it his way. If it’s on fire, he would rather be putting it out himself rather than letting someone else do it for him.”

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Parker added: “Sir Alex Ferguson was like that, he wasn’t scared of having anyone. If that person was a good coach and he believed that person was going to make his team better, he went and got them. He changed coaches all the time. But he knew if that coach could improve the team and the players, he would keep saying thank you to him.

“Everyone would talk about him and what he’s doing, Sir Alex, and the coach would get a mention but he wouldn’t have to worry about that aspect. He was fearless in that way, it didn’t bother him. In today’s world, Wayne Rooney or any other coach comes along, the media will jump on it.

“I don’t see Amorim going down that road. He has got all his people with him, he trusts them to help, but even they have got a limit with what they can work with. You look at it and it has become the most difficult job in top-level football, Manchester United.”

United, who handed managerial reins to Amorim after severing ties with Erik ten Hag, have made their way to the FA Cup fifth round and last 16 of the Europa League last season. They are, however, sat 13th in the Premier League table and need to find inspiration from somewhere as they scratch around for consistency.