Louis van Gaal has paid tribute to Wayne Rooney on the eve of his testimonial.

The Manchester United will be honoured with a match against former club Everton at Old Trafford on Wednesday night after notching up 12 years with the Red Devils.

In the match day programme for the Rooney testimonial, van Gaal wrote that he found it simple to work alongside the England skipper due to his professionalism.

"I was very quickly convinced of his personality and that's why he was easy to work with," penned the Dutchman.

"I quickly decided he would be my captain because I saw also the attitude of his fellow players towards him.

"They approached him always with a lot of respect and that's also important when you have to install a captain.

"It is very important that he is seen by his fellow players as a very important person in the dressing room, and there is no question that he is very important at United."