Jose Mourinho admits Wayne Rooney is a midfield 'option' as Manchester United boss jokes about playing himself with Axel Tuanzebe in defence
- Manchester United have just 13 senior outfield players available this weekend
- Jose Mourinho's side face Swansea in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon
- Mourinho admits he may have to use Wayne Rooney in midfield for United
- Mourinho says Rooney is an 'option' as the club have no other players in midfield
Jose Mourinho admits he may have to play Wayne Rooney in midfield to combat a chronic player shortage at Manchester United.
United have just 13 senior outfield players available for Sunday's game against Swansea after Marouane Fellaini was suspended following his sending-off in the Manchester derby and Timothy Fosu-Mensah suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder.
Mourinho is already without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Marcos Rojo, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones. Pogba should be fit for Thursday's Europa League semi-final against Celta Vigo in Spain and Mata could return before the end of the season, but United are stretched to the limit for the Swansea game.
Wayne Rooney was an unused substitute for Manchester United against Manchester City
Jose Mourinho says Rooney is a midfield 'option' as his side don't have any other players there
Rooney was an unused substitute in Thursday's goalless draw at the Etihad, and one of the options open to Mourinho is to use his captain in a deeper role – having said in July that he would never play the striker in midfield.
'Maybe he is not a striker, not a No 9 anymore but for me he will never be a No 6 playing 50 metres from the goal,' he said at the time. 'You can tell me his pass is amazing but my pass is also amazing without pressure. To be there and put the ball in the net is the most difficult thing. For me he will be a nine, a 10, a nine-and-a-half but never a six or an eight.
'In reality what we need now is one of the two centre backs to be back.'
However, Mourinho admitted that he might have to revise that view to cope with the growing list of midfield absentees. 'Yes, he's an option,' said the United manager. 'We don't have (any other players there). We have (Ander) Herrera and (Michael) Carrick and nothing else.
'And Tim Fosu-Mensah, an emergency to help the team, strong legs, energy, he's another one that we will miss, so we are in trouble. But we will fight, that's for sure.'
Marouane Fellaini was sent off against City as Mourinho lost another midfield option
Asked if he now regretted the decision to let Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger leave Old Trafford in mid-season for Everton and Chicago Fire respectively, Mourinho added: 'Our decision. our decision. To have lots of players without playing is something that the players don't want.
'We didn't tell Morgan 'we want to sell you'. Morgan asked and said 'please sell me, I want to go and play every game'. So sometimes there is always this dilemma of keep a bigger squad, but then the players don't want to stay. Even the younger players, when they are not playing, they ask to leave, so it's very hard.'
Mourinho also has problems in central defence with the injuries to Rojo, Smalling and Jones placing an added burden on Eric Bailly and Daley Blind. One option is Axel Tuanzebe who made a 22-minute debut in an FA Cup tie against Wigan in January, and has been on the bench for the last two games.
'In this moment he (Bailly) is the only option we have,' said Mourinho. 'It's Axel, Eric and Daley. I think Eric and Daley they played again absolutely amazingly. I have to speak with them and see how they are, see how they feel. I'm also training hard in the gym so I can also be an option! Mourinho and Tuanzebe against Swansea.'
Mourinho said Eric Bailly and Daley Blind played 'absolutely amazingly' in Manchester derby
Mourinho joked about playing alongside youngster Axel Tuanzebe against Swansea
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