When attempting to pinpoint what has gone wrong for Liverpool this season, Manchester United icon Rooney said: “If you look at Liverpool last season to now, [Mohamed] Salah and [Virgil] van Dijk haven’t been their best. Then you’ve got Trent [Alexander-Arnold] who’s missing, [Andy] Robertson hasn’t played a lot of games, Luiz Díaz [left] and the [Diogo] Jota situation. Even Darwin Nunez brought something, he wasn’t great, but he brought something. Liverpool have lost a lot of players so it’s sort of a rebuild period [for them].”
Rooney has been critical of Van Dijk this season, as club captain at Anfield, but believes the Netherlands international and talismanic Egyptian forward Salah will retain their standings as modern day greats.
United’s all-time leading goalscorer added: “With Liverpool and what has happened since last season, Van Dijk and Salah – which I have been vocal about this season – may have lost a yard or two, and they are the two leaders of the team. The players they have lost around them would make it very difficult for any side to win the title.
“That should not count against Van Dijk and Salah. For me, Salah is one of the Premier League’s greatest of all time, and Van Dijk will be in the conversation as one of the best. I don’t think he is the best ever, but in this generation, he is certainly the best centre-back, so you cannot hold that against those two players.”