Roo relishes being a main man.
Wayne Rooney has admitted that things have been different at Manchester United following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer.
The England forward suggested that Sir Alex Ferguson used to build his team around Ronaldo, who joined Real Madrid for a world record £80 million fee, but that United were now coping well without the Portuguese star.
The 23-year-old also said that he was relishing his role as the main goalscorer, having spent much of last season playing in wide positions.
"As a footballer you want to be the best and I'm no different," Rooney said to The Daily Mirror. "It would be nice to be the main man, but for me the team is the most important thing.
"It's different without Cristiano [Ronaldo] here. When he was here, the team was basically built around him and we went from there.
"But now he's gone, everyone knows their positions and what we have to do to break teams down.
"It's a different way of playing, and any team would miss a player like Cristiano, but we feel like we're doing well without him.
"We do everything together as a team, but if it means I'm the one who has to score the goals now he's gone, then I hope it happens.
"I always try to score more goals than the previous season, and now I'm taking penalties, I could maybe get an extra five or six goals.
"I'm happy with the position I'm playing in now. I'm scoring goals and hopefully that will continue.
"Last season I played on the left a lot, and I'm always happy to do whatever the manager wants.
"But I've always said I prefer to play up front, and thankfully I've played every game there this season. Now it's up to me and the rest of the team to show what we can do."
This week Rooney celebrated the fifth anniversary of his breathtaking United debut, when he scored a hat-trick in a 6-2 win over Fenerbahce at Old Trafford.
"The last five years have flown by but I've really enjoyed them, especially the last three when we've been successful," Rooney continued.
"After the first year I was here I thought it might be a while before we won our first trophy, because Chelsea looked so strong.
"I was thinking it could be a while before we won the league again. Chelsea won it the first two years I was here, then we won it and have really kicked on since then.
"Having been champions for the past three seasons, we all know this is a massive season for us, to show we're still the top team in the country.
"Apart from losing at Burnley early on, we've been able to grind out results, even when we haven't played that well, which is a good sign."
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