The departure of Cristiano Ronaldo has led most observers to presume Rooney will now become Sir Alex Ferguson's main man this term.

While it is true Rooney craves the more orthodox striking role he was denied at the back end of last season as Ferguson tried to cover the cracks left by Ronaldo's reluctance to do any defending, the 23-year-old is adamant he is just one member of a team and wants to spread the focus.

"I am comfortable with the extra responsibility now Cristiano has gone," said Rooney.

"There have been big expectations on me for the last seven years so whether he was here or not I would still have that.

"But I have never looked at myself as being the main man. It is a team game. I won't win a trophy on my own."

Judging by Ferguson's team selection at Wembley for Sunday's Community Shield, Rooney will be spending most of his time partnering Dimitar Berbatov this season.

If Rooney has little to prove, the Bulgarian certainly has after a distinctly mixed debut campaign following his club record £30.75million move from Tottenham.

Although Ferguson frequently defended the Bulgarian, United's long-serving boss only used Berbatov as a substitute during the Champions League final defeat to Barcelona in May and there were even suggestions he might have been sold less than 12 months after his arrival.

Now though Rooney senses a fresh hunger, which can only bode well for a United side who begin their quest for an unprecedented fourth consecutive championship when they host newly-promoted Birmingham on Sunday.

"You can see in training and games during pre-season Dimitar has looked sharper," he said.

"He looks like he is more determined.

"He is tracking back with the full-backs in pre-season and is definitely working harder and trying to impress.

"He is a brilliant player. He has so much quality he has got and we all want him to show it."

Berbatov's presence is one of the reasons why Rooney is not concerned about the massive spending of both Real Madrid and Manchester City this summer.

Rooney is interested to see how it works out for the big-spending pair, who have splashed out almost £300million between them this summer.

But he is not jealous, or worried about what it means for United.

"There is no element of jealousy at the money City and Real Madrid have been spending," he said.

"If our manager felt he needed to spend he would.

"But I don't believe we need too many changes. We have won the league for the last three seasons and reached the Champions League final twice in a row, so why would we need five or six players.

"I think the manager has probably got it right."