According to The Sun, Jose Mourinho is ready to drop his skipper after a series of underwhelming performances.
United slumped to their third loss in a row on Sunday, suffering a 3-1 defeat away to Watford.
And Rooney, in particular, has come under fire for his poor showing at Vicarage Road.
However, Mourinho has told his United players that they should follow Young’s example after the winger’s positive display against Watford.
Speaking in an interview with MUTV after Sunday’s game, Mourinho said: “I have this capacity of balance. Balance is, for me, not running around the pitch when we were winning a couple of matches and nobody sees now me being too depressed. I’m sad. Obviously, I’m sad but, as I was telling the players, there is only one way.
“At 10:30 in the morning [on Monday], we have a training session and we have to be there. They have to work, they have to show themselves with a certain kind of attitude towards negative moments. I show them, as an example, Ashley Young who was, in my opinion, phenomenal with his attitude, positivity and determination.
“We need positive people to give us a positive feeling because, next time these boys are going onto a football pitch, they are going to feel, obviously as normal human beings, the weight of the defeats.”