Man United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has said that he believes Man United striker Wayne Rooney can handle the pressure after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Over the past few years, Ronaldo had scored a lot of goals for Man United and after he and Carlos Tevez left, Rooney is now United’s main man.

Rooney seems to go through periods of scoring and not scoring but I think that it is now time for him to shine. He was in the shadow of Ronaldo a bit, I think all the players were so once the team has settled down and got used to the new system. I think we will be fine.

Sir Alex told Inside United magazine: "Wayne always wants to do well and play well — the boy's got a real hunger and drive about him.
"He has so much energy that sometimes he overdoes it in the sense that he wants to use it all — he'll drop into midfield or he'll go outside left.
"But he's young, and young players tend to sometimes be that way — they want to spend all their energy on the pitch.
"If he concentrates like he did at Wigan and spends more time in the central areas rather than the wide positions then he will get goals. There's no doubt about that."

Former United striker Andy Cole believes that Rooney will score 25-30 goals for United this season.

Cole told ManUtd.com: "Rooney has started the season really well. He's ready to step into Ronaldo's shoes. His attitude is 'I'm top, and I'm going to prove it'. He's the man to get 25-30 goals this season".

My prediction would be 20 goals, I think 25-30 is slightly too much.

In other Wayne Rooney news, Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Rooney will have the central role.

Rooney tends to wander around and drift to the left or right during games but he now has to be the poacher.

Fergie told Inside magazine: "The boy's got a real hunger and drive about him. He has so much energy that sometimes he overdoes it in the sense that he wants to use it all; he'll drop into midfield or he'll go outside left.