MANCHESTER UNITED NEED to have more striking options to succeed, especially with captain Wayne Rooney getting older, according to Diego Forlan.

The 36-year-old Penarol forward, who played at Old Trafford between 2002 and 2004, feels Louis van Gaal needs to have more players at his disposal in the attacking positions if he is to manage the demands of challenging in multiple competitions.

Forlan believes that Rooney, 30, now needs more support if United are to be successful, with Anthony Martial the only other recognised frontman currently in the senior squad.

“In my opinion I think they need to have more strikers,” he told Omnisport.

“Rooney is a great player but he is getting older and is playing in every position. He can’t play every game.

“In England, with all the competitions, you play more or less 60 or 65 games per year. So it is a lot of games. You travel a lot so you need more players. Maybe sometimes you will get more players injured so you won’t have this player [available] for a couple of months.

So a team where you play so many competitions and you have so many games, you need more strikers.”

United are struggling for form and have failed to win any of their last five matches in all competitions, but Forlan feels the players can have no excuses despite the competitiveness of the Premier League this season.

The former Uruguay international added: “It is like every other big club. When you are big clubs you need to know how to play under pressure.

These are the kind of things where you see how this player can adapt to this kind of situation. So I know that they are not scoring goals, but maybe it is the moment, or maybe they are not playing the way they want to play.

“The other teams are improving as well so they need to improve. I think — if you are at Manchester United — you need to play under pressure. There is no excuse.”

‘Jose Mourinho not returning to Real Madrid’>

Shane Long’s magical goal against Germany voted Ireland’s sporting moment of 2015>