Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has praised teammate Dimitar Berbatov’s good scoring form at the start of the season but dismissed comparisons made in certain quarters that the Bulgarian international is the new Eric Cantona.

Demonstrating his best form since moving from Tottenham Hotspur two years ago, Berbatov has already netted six times since August including a match-winning hattrick against Liverpool in last month’s 3-2 win.

Speaking to EA Sports at a launch for the new FIFA 11 game, Rooney spoke openly about his admiration for the 29-year-old.

“He’s doing well; he’s scored a few goals at the start of the season. We always knew he had those qualities and thankfully for us he’s managing now to do it more consistently and score more consistently which is helpful for us.”

“He holds the ball up well and as you can see from the start of this season he’s getting in the box more which is obviously he’s benefitted from with his goals. If he can keep doing that for us then it’ll be a good season for him.”

“When we’re playing we’ve done well together, but we haven’t played that much together this season. It’s been either him or me. I’m sure if we play together more it will [get better].”

Asked if he could see any similarities between Berbatov and Cantona, the England attacker played down such likeness reflecting, “Not really no. Berba is a great player and a nice lad but I think Cantona was more in midfield and breaking forward.”

“Berba is more of a forward who drops in to finds us spaces. Cantona was more about being in the space in midfield rather than dropping in from forward.”

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Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney has revealed that he might have been a boyhood Everton fan but always held United in the highest regard, most notably citing Eric Cantona as a player he loved to watch.

Rooney is quoted by the Sun, saying: “Growing up, although I was an Everton fan, I loved watching United – especially Eric Cantona.”

“He had something about him. You looked at him and he was fearsome. And that was just on TV! Imagine playing up against him.”

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