Former Manchester United star Wayne Rooney believes the club have been on the decline since 2009.

Cristiano Ronaldo departed the club in 2009 for Real Madrid, having won his first Ballon D'Or, Premier League and Champions League the year prior.

"You could see after 2011; Ronaldo left in 2009, Tevez left and after that you could see it was going to go backwards before it can move forwards," Rooney said, via the Mirror

"That's what I could see and that's why I was asking the questions. Unfortunately, they probably still haven't recovered from that to this day.

"It wasn't a great team in 2013. For us to win that League title was a miracle, really, I think.

"A massive part of it was (Robin) van Persie. I think him coming in gave everyone a lift, coming in at number nine, scoring the goals he scored.

"That was a bit of a masterstroke from the manager, to bring him in and have him hungry because he was a bit older as well. He really carried us that season."