Rooney among world’s best: Ferguson

Alex Ferguson believes that Wayne Rooney deserves to be considered among the world’s footballing elite and could be on the verge of following his former team mate Cristiano Ronaldo in being crowned world footballer of the year.

The Manchester United forward is enjoying the most productive season, of his remarkable career, with his latest superb performance seeing him score twice in the 3-2 midweek victory at AC Milan, taking his season’s tally of goals to 25, a personal best.

Rooney’s form has drawn comparison with Ronaldo’s remarkable 42-goal, 2007-08 season at Old Trafford which saw him collect the FIFPro and FIFA World Player of the Year Awards and Ferguson believes that Rooney’s current form puts him firmly in the group of players who will be considered for such honours in 2010.

“It doesn’t matter where we go at the moment, he’s been without a doubt the main player, the star, over the past few weeks,” said Ferguson. “He’s in such great form and that gives us a great confidence.

“The last few months or so his game has just taken off. Confidence has something to do with it but he has been in absolutely incredible form.

“In the past his goalscoring tended to be in bursts over the years, but now he is in a far more consistent vein of goalscoring which is the area you always want to be judged on as a goalscorer.

“That’s the area where he has made the biggest improvement and you now have to put him in the same bracket as all the great players because the evidence is there.”

If United reach the Champions League Final, the England forward could have as many as 19 games left in his season although Ferguson is content to remain with his older goal targets for now. “I’ll stick with 30 at the moment,” said Ferguson of his predictions for Rooney’s eventual output.

Meanwhile, the pending suspension of winger Nani will see Antonio Valencia return to United’s starting line-up for the coming games.

Valencia played a vital role in his team’s Champions League win after coming on as a substitute in midweek and, following the player’s mid- season hiatus, Ferguson believes he is ready to have an impact over the remainder of the campaign.

“We freshened him up, gave him a break,” said Ferguson. “We felt we didn’t know a lot about him with it being his first season at Old Trafford. He was doing so well for us but we kept thinking maybe there will be a time when we have to give him a break.

“Fortunately, Nani’s form enabled us to do that and now Nani is suspended, he comes back fresh. He came on the last two games, at Aston Villa and on Tuesday night, and did exceptionally well. He is ready to come back now.”