LONDON: David Beckham has claimed that Wayne Rooney must reinvent himself as a midfielder to prolong his career at the highest level, despite backing the Manchester United and England captain to emerge from his form slump.
Rooney, who will be 30 this month, has struggled to produce his best form for club and country this season, leading to a growing clamour among United supporters for the forward to be dropped.
Although Rooney surpassed Sir Bobby Charlton as England's all-time leading goalscorer last month, his two international goals this season have come from the penalty spot, while his goal for United against Sunderland last month ended a personal 1,000-minute Premier League goal drought.
However, Beckham, who will lead a Great Britain and Ireland XI against a Rest of the World team in a Unicef Match for Children at Old Trafford on Nov 14 insisted that it was too early to write Rooney's football obituary due to his ability to evolve his game.
"I think when you get older, you have to adapt your play," Beckham said. "Giggsy [Ryan Giggs] was a prime example. He got to a certain age and then he dropped into midfield a lot more and played that central role. I think Wayne will do the same.
"He is an out-and-out goalscorer, but he's proved he can step into the midfield and play. If you're comfortable on the ball, as players such as Wayne and Giggsy are, you can do that. But I don't think you can ever write off a player who has scored the number of goals Wayne has for England and Man-chester United. Players like that can always make you eat your words."
With Rooney set to be on international duty with England against Spain on Nov 13, he will be absent from the Unicef fixture at Old Trafford, when Beckham will return to action two years after his retirement. Sir Alex Ferguson will also emerge from retirement to manage the GB and Ireland XI, with Carlo -Ancelotti taking charge of a Rest of the World XI which will be led by Zinedine Zidane.
Ferguson will return to the Old Trafford dugout for the first time since May 2013. Although United have struggled to challenge under David Moyes and Louis van Gaal since the Scot's departure, Beckham insisted that the club would not suffer the same decline that has prompted Liverpool to sack Brendan Rodgers as their manager.
"I can't see that happening to Manchester United," Beckham said. "I never think we [United] will not be in contention to win trophies. There's too much history. When the manager leaves and a number of players retire, like Scholesy [Paul Scholes] and Giggsy, no matter what club it is or how much money you have behind you, there is going to be a dip in trophies. But unfortunately, when you are Manchester United, you can't really have that.
"Obviously, you have to stay on the ball, but there's too much embedded into this club to let it slip away like that."
Tickets for the Unicef Match for Children, at Old Trafford on Saturday, Nov 14, at 3pm, are available at manutd.com