Alongside one another on the Old Trafford pitch for so many years, the dynamic between Roy Keane and Paul Scholes was always pretty easy to understand.
Keane was the loud one, constantly roaring instructions at his teammates and swear words at the referee, while Scholes was the more timid midfielder who was quite happy to go about his job diligently with seldom a need to open his mouth.
And while Scholes became slightly more outspoken since moving into the realm of punditry, it was always going to be a big ask for him to match the former Republic of Ireland international in that department.
Both Manchester United legends were offering their analyses of European action on Wednesday night when the obvious topic came up – What do you make of the talk linking Wayne Rooney with a move to the Chinese Super League?
Scholes and Keane shared a mutual concern about what moving to China would mean for Rooney’s career but both voiced that concern in very different ways.
“I don’t know if he should go, but he’ll want to go,” Scholes said on BT Sport.
“Wayne is a player that wants to play football every week, whether it’s a big game, a small game he wants to play. This will be hurting him at the minute.
“Not being selected for the bigger games, okay, he might have played in this game if he was fit, but he’ll get frustrated and I don’t see him hanging about if he’s not going to be playing in the big games.”
Keane, meanwhile, was far less polite in expressing his belief that Rooney has far more to offer the game than simply moving to China to secure a huge payday.
“No way Wayne Rooney should be going to China,” Keane told ITV.
“He can still play football at the top level in England, Germany, Spain, Italy.
“Going to China? Madness.
“He’s 31 years of age, there’s plenty left yet for Wayne Rooney to do in Europe.”
Rooney’s recovery from a muscle strain meant he played no part of United’s Europa League Round of 32 second leg victory over Saint-Etienne and he could well arrive at a decision on his future based on whether or not he is selected for the Red Devils’ Capital One Cup final against Southampton on Sunday.
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