Gary Neville has said that Wayne Rooney will "lead by example" following his appointment as captain of Manchester United.

The 28-year-old was handed the armband earlier this week by Louis van Gaal and will lead the team out in their first Premier League match of the season against Swansea City this afternoon.

"Rooney has the qualities to lead by example on the pitch and through his no-holds-barred approach," Neville wrote in his column for The Telegraph. "He will even call his coaches out. Wayne Rooney will not hold back.

"He is one of the few footballers I watch now who could have survived 20 years ago, in what was a more brutal environment, where every decision in training was challenged, where he would have wired into his goalkeeper if he made a mistake, where being vocal was a virtue rather than the mark of a troublemaker.

"Ten minutes after calling a team-mate out, he would join them on a sofa, returning to friendship mode. He pays no attention to age, seniority or reputation."

Rooney has been at United for 10 years and has scored 216 goals in 442 appearances for the club.