Mourinho clears Rooney to face Arsenal despite difficult week with England
Wayne Rooney has endured a difficult week but Jose Mourinho says he is ready to play for Manchester United against Arsenal.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says Wayne Rooney is available to face Arsenal in Saturday's Premier League clash at Old Trafford.
The club captain had been a doubt for the meeting with Arsene Wenger's side after sustaining a knee injury while on international duty with England this week.
Rooney's availability had also been called into question after he was pictured at a wedding party late at night following the World Cup qualifying win over Scotland, which prompted the 31-year-old to issue an apology to interim boss Gareth Southgate.
Mourinho would not discuss what took place with England but said Rooney had trained as normal since returning to Manchester.
"Over the last two or three days nothing happened, he trained like everybody else, he wants to play like everybody else, he's ready," Mourinho told a media conference on Friday.
"What happened in the national team happened in the national team, I don't comment.
"My players when they go there belong to the national team and I don't like to comment.
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"Sometimes they come back stronger than when they left us because something good happened there, positive for them, other times injuries, sometimes big injuries, sometimes frustrations because they didn't play or the result was bad.
"In this case, we knew what didn't go well but the national team is a different chapter and is closed now until March."