Phil Jones has been one of the surprise success stories under Jose Mourinho this season.
The centre-back has proven he can be more than an internet sensation having become a rock in the middle of Manchester United’s defence, and he’s one of the reasons the Red Devils have won their last six Premier League games in a row.
Nonetheless, despite impressing this season, the England international has singled out two more experienced players as the key men who he and his team-mates look up to.
Speaking about Wayne Rooney equalling Sir Bobby Charlton’s United record in the weekend’s game against Reading, Jones told the club’s official website:
“Everyone knows that the likes of him and Michael Carrick, they are the people in the dressing room that the lads certainly look up to.
“Those two are so influential in the dressing room. We take them for granted now that they are here.
“But when they are not here anymore in the years to come we will look back and say ‘we could do with them now.’ So we need to appreciate them now.”
It looks as if Carrick is coming to the end of his time at Old Trafford, with his contract due to expire in the summer and no new deal on the table as yet.
As for Rooney, whether or not he will stay in the north-west is unclear, though he has been linked with a move to the MLS or the Chinese Super League.
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