Rooney is irreplaceable, Moyes gushes

London: David Moyes, the Manchester United manager, admitted it would have been impossible to replace talisman Wayne Rooney at Old Trafford.

Rooney celebrated signing a new five-and-a-half year contract by sealing United’s 2-0 Premier League win at Crystal Palace with a superb volleyed finish to double the advantage following Robin van Persie’s penalty.

Following the success at Selhurst Park that put United sixth in the table, Red Devils boss Moyes saluted the 28-year-old England striker and believes he will only get better after putting him in the bracket of the best players in world football.

“He’s a really important player and you think about the amount of clubs who wanted to sign him. He would have been too difficult to replace. There aren’t enough top players out there that you can get cheaply or easily,” Moyes said

“Wayne’s one of them, one of the top players. He shows it week in, week out for us and you can see the change in him — his leadership, what he’s trying to bring to the team.

“We want him to keep at it and I’m sure he will. He’s a boy who wants to continue to get better.”

Moyes, Rooney and United now travel to Greece for Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 tie against Olympiakos.

And the United chief, who has endured a difficult first term in charge following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, hopes his men can gain in belief from their victory in south London and finish the season on a high.

“We have a really big European tie coming up on Tuesday night and our focus goes on to that,” Moyes added.

“We wanted to win the game to make sure we go into that game in good form and confidence. It’s such a big game for us. We haven’t played for 10 days so I wanted to make sure all the players were ready and focussed for the game and ready to perform again.

“We’ve a few injuries but hopefully we will get a few of them back for Tuesday.

“They have a chance. I have to see how Phil Jones and Jonny Evans are.

“Rafa (Rafael) as well. We’ll have a look at them tomorrow and hopefully see if they can join us.”

Palace, meanwhile, remain two points above the relegation zone, but Eagles manager Tony Pulis insists his side need to start achieving positive results.

Pulis said: “Every game whether it’s home or away matters. We have to start collecting the points. We’re in it with 12 other teams. It will go right to the end.

“Whether it’s against the top four or five, there’s always three points. We have to scrap and fight for everything against every team.”