West Ham coach Slaven Bilić held a press conference ahead of Saturday’s Premier League match against Watford
Among other things, journalists were interested in his comment on the future of Wayne Rooney. British media have written plenty on the possibility of Manchester United’s captain laving Old Trafford unsatisfied with his playing time, with a possible transfer to China, Jutarnji List reported on February 23, 2017.
“Rooney is 31 years old and definitely has enough quality and tenacity to stay in Europe. But again, he has done it all and has nothing to prove to anyone. It is very hard for a player who has done it all to find a new challenge, which he has done with Manchester United,” explained Bilić.
“Being captain of Man United and one of the best European players, where is he to go after all that? It’s his decision. He’s a Premier League legend, alongside Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Thierry Henry, all top notch players,” added the Croatian coach.
As far as the game against Watford Bilić questions the availability of Andy Carroll who has scored four goals in the last four games. Carroll has trouble with a groin injury and the decision on his participation will be made in the last moment.
“When healthy and ready Andy is an excellent forward. This is not a tough injury, but it affects him and is not good for us. It’s not good for him either and him joining the English national team. A imilar thing happened to him last year. He was great in the beginning against Southampton and Liverpool, then he got injured and was out for four weeks. As for the Watford game, he will try to practice and if he feels good the maybe he’ll be on the team on Saturday.”
Bilić also commented last week’s team trip to Dubai for practice in warm weather conditions.
“It was a very good trip. We trained hard, more than we would have if we had stayed here. Team bonding is good for players who haven’t opened up completely, join practice, talk to their best friend and then go home. This is different. You are together 24 hours a day, seven days a week and open up to the entire team. That’s why it was very good.”
