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'Chubby' Rooney blasted

Cape Town - England captain Wayne Rooney has been blasted by his opposing skipper as well as an ex-Red Devil. 

Rooney's form and weight took centre stage ahead of England's clash against Norway according to the Daily Star.

"No, Rooney looks a bit chubby," responded Norway's captain Vegard Forren when asked if he was concerned with England's attack.

In the past, Rooney has come under severe criticism for retaining too much weight but the player refused to be drawn into any verbals relating Forren's comments.

"To be honest I'm not really too interested,"  said Rooney.

Former United defender turned television pundit, Paul Parker was particularly brutal in his assessment of Rooney's current form.

"He's been awful," said Parker.

Parker remains convinced Rooney is not the right man to captain the Red Devils.

"There he was at Burnley this weekend, supposedly captaining the team - but I saw a player interested only in himself, doing nothing to try and lift his game or inspire his team-mates." 

Parker continued the avalanche of abuse, by adding: "The only thing in any way remarkable about his performance is that he collects £300 000 a week to play that badly."

"Once Robin van Persie is fully-fit again, Rooney must be the person to be dropped from United's new attacking line-up: for me, it'll be RVP and Falcao every time.

"And though there's lots of talk about him playing in the hole behind that front two, I think that'd be a huge mistake - why would you have Rooney there when Juan Mata or Angel Di Maria would do the job so much better?" added Parker.

"That'll leave Louis Van Gaal with a big call to make: dropping Wayne Rooney. He's always shown in his career that he's not afraid of the big decisions."

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