Wayne Rooney secured his place in history at the weekend: his free-kick at Stoke City means he is United's record goalscorer, overtaking Sir Bobby Charlton at the top.
Both men looked delighted after the game:
.@SirBobby was one of the first to congratulate the man who claimed his #MUFC goalscoring record. Class. #ROONEY250 pic.twitter.com/iNv1LXVYY9
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 21, 2017
It is a remarkable achievement by Rooney, but one that owes more to the incorrigible bundle of energy of the last decade, rather than the increasingly slow club captain we see today, struggling to break into the first team.
With Rooney not in the side at the moment, Jose Mourinho has spoken about the prospect of Rooney leaving United for a crack at the Chinese Super League, a league of such riches that it makes his current £300,000-per-week deal at Old Trafford seem positively Dickensian.
Mourinho has admitted that he would not stand in Rooney's way should he seek a fresh experience in China. In doing so, Mourinho painted himself as a most noble man, saying that he "doesn't like to be critical with players that are going to China".
Like anything else, however, Mourinho used the occasion to have a dig at a rival manager. Having called Rooney a United "legend", he then used this significant moment in the history of Manchester United's history to have a dig at Antonio Conte. It is difficult to read these quotes and not think of Conte's dropping of Diego Costa for the striker's temerity of having his head turned by an unfathomable amount of money in China:
I know some of my colleagues, they think they are more important than they are, they are critical with the lives of other people. I am not this kind of guy. I think everyone is responsible for his own life. That is why I am not critical with anyone. But in Wayne’s case, I have no idea. He never mentioned anything to me.
"They think they are more important than they are" from a man who called himself the Special One.
In fairness to Mourinho, somebody needs to get under Conte's skin at Chelsea to prevent the title race being over by the end of January, if it isn't already.
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