WE CAN rebuild him. We have the technology. Previously, Wayne Rooney has seemed bionic only in terms of his footballing ability. Now, though, Manchester United are enlisting the help of boffins in their own sports science department, and at Rooney’s boot manufacturer, Nike, to try to make sure he will no longer be dogged by the foot problems that keep interrupting his career.

Rooney is out of action after breaking a metatarsal against Reading, the third such injury suffered by a player who is yet to turn 22. He is already back in light training and may be on course for another record-breaking return to fitness.

“Typical Rooney. He wanted to play [against Tottenham] on Sunday. ‘Give me an injection and I’ll play’. He’s fine, I’m positive about that, and he’ll be back in three or four weeks,” Sir Alex Ferguson revealed.

The manager, however, knows that relying on remarkable powers of recovery is no long-term solution to Rooney’s troubles and has ordered specialists to investigate why bones keep snapping in his feet.

These involve examining his running style and choice of boots, although Ferguson accepts that this latest injury, caused when Michael Duberry trod on his foot as he tried to shoot, had “nothing to do” with the Nike footwear that the striker uses and advertises. “I’ve spoken to Nike,” Ferguson said. “I went across the whole range of issues involved and they are not slow in getting solutions to make sure everyone’s happy, particularly their players. They don’t want one of their best clients, and our best players, being on the sidelines every year because he’s going to crack a bone. So they have been very good, very efficient in all the solutions they are preparing for him.”

After seeing a series of players under his charge suffer metatarsal injuries, including David Beckham and Gary Neville, Ferguson disclosed that he has already intervened to force manufacturers to alter the boots they provide for United’s stars.

“They [Nike] won’t be making a new boot for Wayne,” said Ferguson. “They have gone over the whole thing about the boot, and Wayne and all our players are playing with a reinforced sole anyway. That’s at my behest. The stronger sole satisfies me that we are doing everything we can to make sure we don’t get these kind of injuries.

“In fairness to our point of view, the market in that particular sports field has become, to my mind, more commercialised in terms of [putting] appearance over effectiveness.”

Ferguson has also asked United’s physiotherapist, Rob Swire, and his team of specialists to scrutinise the way Rooney runs in an attempt to get to the root of his problems. “Duberry is about 13 or 14st, and with that coming down on top of Wayne, I think it was just luck. We can’t look at there being a weakness in his bone structure or anything like that, and with Wayne I very much doubt it’s a mental problem.

“We’re looking at his running style. It is very powerful and he comes down heavily on the ground. We have to look at these things. We don’t think it’s the problem, but it’s something we will look at anyway because we want to make sure we have looked at all the solutions and we know where we are going with it,” added Ferguson.