Manchester United legend Andy Cole has warned Wayne Rooney he'll regret it if he leaves Old Trafford.

If he did leave, it would mirror the situation Cole found himself in following the arrival of Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2001, when he found himself shunted down the pecking order.

Cole said: "Looking back on what happened to me, if I hadn't been so headstrong and stubborn I could have stayed at United.

"I wasn't playing regularly and I wasn't the happy man so I made my mind up. In hindsight I should have stayed.

"I had just signed a new contract and had a fantastic relationship with the manager. We talked about it numerous times before he finally said he would let me go.

"You make decisions for a reason and that was simply because I wanted to play. But it was the wrong thing to do."