Wayne Rooney playing worse than under Louis van Gaal, Paul Pogba must be the priority

It would be fair to say both men are not what each other needs right now.

If Wayne Rooney looks like a ghost of a player who used to wear a Manchester United shirt, Paul Pogba isn't exactly shaping up as the exorcist who is going to drive the demons from him.

The spirit of Euro 2004, of being England's record goalscorer and dovetailing perfectly with Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez in 2009 isn't coming back to life any time soon.

Rooney looks to be in a worse state under Jose Mourinho than he was when Louis van Gaal was running United while Pogba looks utterly lost under the Portuguese martinet, who has a decision to make before he picks his team to face Leicester City on Saturday.

Rooney doesn't look like he has lost a yard of pace, but an acre of it. Pogba's agent Mino Raiola has been moving faster in recent days in arguing that the France midfielder Pogba is "United's lost son" who will dominate the Premier League for 10 years. Yet in six games, all we have witnessed is lost form.

Let's get back to basics, as every football fan says without being able to explain what that term means. Does Mourinho stick with Wazza in the hope that his captain can rouse himself from the torpor that has characterised his early-season offerings?

Or does he choose to be ruthless and opt for a side that might not sound spectacular, but will allow Pogba to illustrate why United were willing to unearth a world-record £89m fee to fetch him back from Juventus?

You can't go with the status quo. Not only is that the easy way out, but it is also likely to damage United's prospects of piecing together a credible challenge for the Premier League.

At the moment, it is difficult to see where Rooney fits into this United side. Not just in trying to deduce his best position, but on form.

If Rooney is bereft of confidence against Northampton Town of League One, it might be best for everyone concerned if he is given a breather against Claudio Ranieri's lot. He was cobbled against the Cobblers by his own lack of confidence - one miss in particular when he slashed wide from six yards out offered a microcosm of a player shorn of belief.

Whether this is down to his own state of mind or Mourinho's lack of clarity is a moot point.

But there is little doubt there are burning issues. Rooney is a national treasure and obsession whether with England or United. He is always under scrutiny perhaps because he is the leading English player of his generation.

Rooney operated as a midfielder against Watford in the 3-1 defeat in the Premier League last Sunday before going back up top in the 3-1 win at Northampton in the League Cup.

He did little in either game to suggest he warrants a shirt this weekend.

Mourinho has hardly helped the situation. He already rejected the idea that Rooney was a midfielder when he touched down in Manchester and has intimated that the player was no longer a striker. No wonder Rooney is feeling as about useful as Fergie's redundant hairdryer.

There is always the option of playing him at right-back like King Louis asked him to at West Ham 18 months ago.

Or according to the riveting BBC pundit Trevor Sinclair, he could be wheeled back to number four as a defensive midfielder because he "no longer has mobility" for forward areas. That is hardly a jaunt for a footballer approaching the OAP stages of his career.

If Rooney goes any further back, he might as well just stuff playing and settle down in the Stretford End with a season book. Never before has the urge to find a role for a player been so great. Paul Ince says he should be number 10, but then again Incey was shown the door by Fergie at Old Trafford for being a "big-time Charlie"

Rooney has scored only three goals for United since February, two against Bournemouth, which suggests the faculties are not what they once were. Not when you have plundered 179 goals in 344 appearances for the club over the past 12 years.

If he is not seen as some sort of deep, ball-playing quarter-back pinging passes, there is every chance Michael Carrick will be given a start as the sitting midfielder. To complicate matters further, Mourinho has this morning been credited with a liking for Leicester's Danny Drinkwater. Wherever Rooney's future lies, it would not seem to be as part of a United midfield.

In the here and now, Morgan Schneiderlin and Ander Herrera should be chosen to enable Pogba to play off a front two of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcus Rashford, a youngster whose tender years remind you a bit of the teenage Wazza.

This should help to ensure Pogba isn't suffocated by defensive duties. He should be allowed freedom to roam, and damage the opposition rather than being overworked in his own third.

Mourinho's priority should be choosing a side that enables Pogba to show off the wares that made him such a central figure for Juventus in winning Serie A the past four seasons and reaching the Champions League final in 2015.

Rooney being left out in the cold would merely feel like a football mercy killing. Especially if it allows the rebirth of Pogba.