Wayne Rooney will prove he is not Manchester United’s forgotten man, according to team-mate Patrice Evra.
Rooney has taken second billing to United’s new £24million striker Robin van Persie, who has scored seven goals in his first eight games.
A badly-gashed thigh kept Rooney out of action for a month, but he showed he is getting back to his best by creating both Van Persie’s goals in United’s 2-1 Champions League win at Cluj.
And Evra said Rooney’s enduring value to United should not be forgotten, despite the start Van Persie has made at Old Trafford.
“A lot of people are talking about Robin and how unbelievable he has been since he came to the club,” said Evra.
“Wazza is a good player. He will show that to everyone. When someone new comes, everyone is excited and forgets the old things.
“But Wazza is working very hard and showing that he loves the club.
“Like everyone at the club you have to fight to play every game. So I’m happy for Manchester United, Wayne and Robin.
“People criticise really easily. I know they were only talking about Robin and I thought ‘we’ve just got one striker’.
“But we’ve got a lot of strikers. Robin’s an amazing player and that’s good, but everyone will want to show they can play with him or replace him. But the star is the team, not one player.”
After being dropped by Sir Alex Ferguson following his laboured display in United’s opening game of the season, a 1-0 defeat at Everton, Rooney was sidelined by his gashed thigh.
But the England striker put his enforced time off to good use in the gym, getting himself in peak condition so he could reclaim his place when his wound had healed.
Rooney looked leaner than he has for some time in United’s win in Romania and excelled in a deeper-lying role behind Van Persie.
Yet while Fergie has many options in attack, with Van Persie, Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez, plus Shinji Kagawa, United’s dodgy defence is still a cause for concern.
They let in a sloppy early goal against Cluj, the sixth time in nine games this season they have conceded first.
Evra was the main culprit on Tuesday, beaten in the build-up to the goal and repeatedly caught out of position - which the manager labdelled ' an absolute shocker!'.
United travel to Newcastle on Sunday, where they lost 3-0 last season, with Evra admitting they cannot afford to go behind again if they are to win to keep pace with title pacesetters Chelsea.
“In a positive way, we can say we have a strong character, as we always react,” said Evra.
“But in football you have to act, not react. We need to make sure we score first against Newcastle and control the game.
“Having to keep trying to come from behind isn’t a worry, but I would say it’s a bad habit.
“Last season at Newcastle was a disaster. We played very badly and lost 3-0. This season is going to be very important because we’ve just lost against Tottenham and have to react.
“We had a meeting after that game at Newcastle last season and talked with each other, because it wasn’t the way we respect the shirt of United. After that I remember we just kept winning games.
“We don’t want another wake-up call at Newcastle again. We know what happened last season. We know the experience up there and we have to be ready from the first minute of the game.”