Real Madrid axe means Wayne Rooney is not fit for purpose at Manchester United The question raised by Tuesday's team selection is whether Rooney himself is doing enough to present himself in the kind of shape needed to cope with Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso and the other workaholics in a team as good as Real Madrid. Plainly Ferguson felt the answer this week was no, which is why he referred to Rooney "needing games," even though he had started (and scored) against Norwich on Saturday. This was code: the closest Ferguson felt able to go to saying Rooney's body needs to be in the right nick to carry his talent around. The club's training ground at Carrington is now a laboratory with measures for everything. No player could expect to slink in carrying an extra few pounds without the alarms on all those machines going off. Rooney's condition has been a subject of interest at United since he scored a Champions League hat-trick on his debut and was then withdrawn from the firing line for a while to improve his shape and training regimen. In his prime, when he played with Ronaldo in a Champions League winning team, he settled into a clear dietary programme and is thought to have socialised less. There is no proof that Rooney is consistently flouting his professional obligations but United have been unhappy more than once with his weight. His pre-Euro 2012 trip to Las Vegas was seen as an example of him taking a decision that could have an adverse effect on his fitness. Last Christmas he was fined and dropped after turning up for training in a condition Ferguson considered to be unconducive to him performing well in the next game. A debutant at 16, Rooney, now 27, was a man in a boy's body, and there were always doubts at the top of the game about his ability to thrive into his late twenties and thirties. He is approaching that threshold now, and as the years and the wealth pile up it may be harder for him to practise the austerity needed to match the likes of Ronaldo or Lionel Messi: full-time Spartans who have made social sacrifices to achieve greatness. The connections are clear: when Ruud van Nistelrooy was left on the bench for a League Cup final it was a prelude to him leaving United that summer. When David Beckham was dropped against Real Madrid he was already heading for the exit in Ferguson's mind. The context with Rooney is that he demonstrated an urge to join Manchester City at least once before a large pay rise changed his mind. His bond with United is nothing like as strong as the ones that hold Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes to the manager's vision. It was the magnitude of the Real Madrid match that made Rooney's omission so significant. It said Ferguson was not willing to trust him 100 per cent in a game that required maximum industry. In Madrid, in the first leg, Rooney had worked hard in a scuttling defensive role but it strained his internal thermostat. On Tuesday, Ferguson placed his faith instead in the young legs of Welbeck and Tom Cleverley, with Nani as the wild card on the flanks. At the very least it was a warning to Rooney. But it looked more than that.