Wayne Rooney is difficult to understand, claims Louis van Gaal

When a manager names his team's captain, you might assume that one of the qualities they look for in their on-field leader is excellent communication.

Judging by Louis van Gaal's recent comments, perhaps this isn't something that he values too highly. In an interview with Dutch TV station RTL4, the United man explained that Wayne Rooney is difficult to understand. "When I speak, I am well articulated," a typically modest Van Gaal explained. "If you put Wayne Rooney here in the seat, and you start talking to him, do you think people can understand Wayne Rooney? You simply can't understand what he says." Although many will take the United manager's words as an opportunity to make really obvious and overused jokes about Rooney's perceived lack of intellect, the striker had no trouble delivering a speech to his England colleagues recently after surpassing Sir Bobby Charlton's international goal scoring tally. These comments surface in a week where rumours swirl of player discontentment with Van Gaal. Some have suggested that Rooney and Michael Carrick approached their manager to ask for a change to the rigorous training structure. If the talking was left to Rooney, perhaps we now have an answer as to why things have remained the same.