Rooney Vows to Improve as he Closes in on George Best's Record

Wayne Rooney is looking forward to joining George Best and Dennis Viollet as Manchester United's fourth-highest goal scorer ever.

The 26 year old, who netted a brace in Sunday's 4-0 home win over Aston Villa, now has 178 goals for the Red Devils in all competitions and his next strike will put him level with United legends Best and Viollet.

Rooney, who joined Sir Alex Ferguson's team from Everton in 2004, admits he would like to beat the record this season but insists he is focusing more on helping the club secure a 20th league title.

"It would be great to equal the record and hopefully surpass them. It would be a great achievement that I would be proud of but I can't really look at that at the minute. If it happens then great, hopefully it will before the end of the season, but I'm just concentrating on my game," The Sun quoted the striker as saying. Two more goals will take Rooney past Best and Viollet and in to fourth place in the list but he still has some way to go if he wants to beat Sir Bobby Charlton's all-time record of 249 goals.

Although Rooney's double against Villa took his tally for the season to 31 - just three shy of his record of 34 goals two seasons ago - Ferguson criticised the England man for being "careless" and "casual" at times. Rooney admitted his manager's complaints were justified and that he was disappointed with his performance on Sunday.

"I hope I can beat my best tally. It is the points that are important but if I can score goals to get those points then I'll be delighted. At times against Villa I was disappointed with myself. I have to put that right. Obviously, I'm happy with the goals but the rest of my play wasn't great," he explained.

Meanwhile, veteran midfielder Paul Scholes, who was missed dearly in United's 1-0 loss at Wigan in midweek, returned to the side for the Villa game and Rooney says the team is grateful to the former England international for getting them back on track in the title race and he hoped the 37 year old would carry on.

"Everyone has seen the quality over the years. It's just fantastic the way he keeps the ball for the team. He's a big, important player for us and, hopefully, he'll be here for a while," the United striker said.