Club captain Wayne Rooney left out of Manchester United's traveling squad to Chelsea — report

According to a report in the Manchester Evening News, Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney did not travel with the squad for tomorrow's game at Stamford Bridge.

While the M.E.N. allow for the possibility of Rooney traveling separately and joining up with the squad either en route or in London, the report seems fairly confident that Rooney will not be in the matchday squad on Sunday.  Also missing from the traveling squad are Henrikh Mkhitaryan (who's fit but "confused and unhappy" at being out of favor already), youngster Timothy Fosu-Mensah, and the once highly promising but already forgotten Memphis Depay.

Wayne Rooney was not the only big name absent as United left for London #mufc https://t.co/VTbz5JiZbG

— Man United News (@ManUtdMEN) October 22, 2016

Leaving players who aren't going to be used at home is fairly standard practice for Mourinho, but it's certainly surprising in Wayne Rooney's case.  Not only is he the captain, he's also played in all but one of United's matches in all competitions this season.  While he's no longer a guaranteed starter, his complete omission is unexpected.

There's probably a good and reasonable explanation for all this and it wouldn't surprise me if Rooney turned up tomorrow at Chelsea anyway ... but even just a suggestion of palpable discord in the United camp could be useful for us ahead of this crucial match.

UPDATE: The reason is a muscular injury, apparently.

BREAKING: Sky sources: Wayne Rooney will miss Chelsea v Man Utd after picking up muscular injury in training. #SSNHQ https://t.co/VcrCqgJfrJ

— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ) October 22, 2016