David Beckham suggests Wayne Rooney should adapt to be successful at Manchester United

Wayne Rooney has scored just once in the Premier League since 4 April

Former Manchester United midfielder David Beckham is of the opinion that Wayne Rooney can prove his critics wrong and hit top form despite his disappointing start to this new campaign, Mirror reports. Beckham has also suggested the United captain to follow up the example of Ryan Giggs to extend his career.

Giggs transformed himself from a pacey teenage winger to an influential midfielder towards the end of his glorious footballing career. The Welshman is among the few players who had played football till the age of 40 and Beckham believes Rooney could do the same.

United skipper Rooney broke Sir Bobby Charlton’s record with his 50th international goal earlier this season, but ever since then the striker has been struggling for goals. Despite his impressive hat-trick against Club Brugge in the Champions League qualifier, Rooney has scored just once in the Premier League since 4 April and is also approaching a full year without a league goal away from Old Trafford.

The 30-year-old has found himself at a critical point in his United career, with many fans demanding the coach to either bench or sell the striker due to his string of poor performances in recent months.

Rooney must adapt as he grows older: Beckham

However, the former Real Madrid star believes Rooney is too good not get back to his best and has insisted that ‘you can never write off’ England’s record goalscorer.

“I don’t think you can ever write off a player that’s scored the number of goals he has,” Beckham said.

“Players like that can always make you eat your words. But I think when you get older, you have to adapt your play.”

Beckham then gave the example of how Giggs transformed his game and how Rooney could do the same.

"Giggsy was a prime example. He got to a certain age and then dropped into midfield a lot more and played that central role. I think Wayne will do the same,” he explained.

“He’s an out-and-out goalscorer, but I think with Wayne, he’s proved he can step into the midfield and play.

“If you’re comfortable on the ball, as players such as Wayne and Giggsy are, you can do that.”

United are slowly getting back to their best: Beckham

David Beckham is relishing his return to Old Trafford for the UNICEF game.

The Red Devils have struggled to win a trophy in the post-Alex Ferguson era, ending 7th and 4th in the past two seasons. They suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat on Sunday against their rivals Arsenal, but Beckham remains optimistic and has admitted that Louis van Gaal is heading them back in the right direction.

“There were a couple of seasons where we didn’t win things,” said Beckham.

“We ended up with the FA Cup but not doing well in Champions League and the Premier League. So these things do happen at clubs.

“We’ve been spoilt over the years at United – being so successful over the last 20 years.

“When the manager leaves and [chief executive] David Gill leaves [in the same summer] and a number of players stop playing and retire, like [Paul] Scholesy and Giggsy, no matter what club it is or how much money you have behind you, there’s going to be a dip in trophies. Unfortunately when you are Manchester United, you can’t really have that.”

“There are tough moments, and I think the weekend was a tough loss but, other than that, we seem to be slowly gradually getting back to some excitement.”

Beckham is looking forward to being back at Old Trafford for the UNICEF game, which will also see Ferguson return to his familiar position in the United dug-out.