USA sprint star Michael Johnson believes he can improve Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney's leg speed.
Johnson has worked on improving sprint speeds with Manchester United players in the past, having been asked to help academy players individually with six-week intensive courses during Sir Alex Ferguson's time in charge.
"I don't watch enough of Wayne specifically to say whether he has lost some pace or not," Johnson told the Daily Express. "We prefer to look at it from the standpoint of, 'if it is happening, why is it happening?'
"If he was ever quicker in his career, what can we do to get him back there and what kind of programme can we find to address that. It is rare you find an athlete where you cannot find an improvement.
"I am confident I would be able to give Wayne Rooney an extra yard of pace as long as we could be fully integrated in his training.
"That would not mean just working with Wayne, it would mean working with the fitness coaches at United and asking what time we could have with him.
"The trouble is they are unlikely to say 'There you go, Wayne, take an hour or two off the ball drills to go and do some Michael Johnson Performance! That ain't going to happen.
"But when we get a young player enrolled in our actual programme, we see a two-to-three per cent improvement in speed, strength, power and agility every two weeks.
"If a professional athlete had the time to dedicate to these exercises, we would probably get the same sort of numbers - maybe a little bit less."
