MANCHESTER United manager David Moyes has revealed that he thought star striker Wayne Rooney had "gone soft" when he first arrived at the club.

Rooney (27) was linked with a move to Chelsea throughout the close season, and although he reportedly returned for pre-season training in excellent condition, Moyes was worried that he had lost his competitive edge.

"When I came, I thought he had gone a bit soft," Moyes told United's in-house television station, MUTV. "I thought he had to get back to being a bit more aggressive."

Injuries also disrupted Rooney's preparations for the new campaign, but since his return he has scored three goals in two games.

Although Moyes said there was never a chance of Rooney leaving Old Trafford, he felt a need to encourage the England striker to raise his game.

"This is a big year for him with the World Cup and he would say, by his standards, last season wasn't [his] best season.

"He has set out his own stall to say he is going to improve on that."

Rooney goes into today's clash with Manchester City as the leading United scorer in Manchester derbies and needs just one goal to become the outright top scorer in the fixture's history.

Although City were United's closest rivals last season, Rooney said it would not be his side's biggest game of the season. That would be the Liverpool game, he said.