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There has been an awful lot of debate surrounding Wayne Rooney and his place in the Manchester United team.

With Jose Mourinho stipulating that he will not use his captain in midfield and Zlatan Ibrahimovic looking at home as the No.9 , that pushes the England skipper into attacking midfield.

Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are some serious competition and former Red Rio Ferdinand believes Jesse Lingard could also be pivotal to making United tick.

"It was good to see Jesse Lingard playing making runs [against Everton]," he said.

"I think in the footballers' minds he and Rashford are the ones making runs in behind. That's important for Ibrahimovic if he's got someone or a couple of people that will run beyond him which will free up a little bit of space for him.

"When he's on the pitch he's going to draw one of two people to him and will give the players playing around him space so it looks like there's the potential to be a good mix."

Ferdinand stressed it is early days for this United team under Jose Mourinho but is optimistic that the former Chelsea boss can deliver a side that Reds at Old Trafford are more used to watching.

"The Premier League sometimes asks you a lot of different questions and it is a quick and pacy league. United last season played in a very methodical, slow paced way and maybe that wasn't suited to the Premier League.

"Knowing Jose Mourinho's teams, they don't play like that. They might defend sometimes but they're explosive on the counter-attack when they get the ball. You saw in patches against Everton where the game was quickened up and United looked like a team who can produce moments and have more freedom to express themselves in their movement, which is what people have been crying out for."

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