Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed that Wayne Rooney will continue to be the club's captain this season.

Rooney was awarded the armband by Mourinho's predecessor Louis van Gaal, and his performances for club and country last season were called into question on a number of occasions.

However, Mourinho has leapt to the defence of the 30-year-old, insisting that he will be a "very important player" for his side during the upcoming campaign.

"I am quite surprised with so many question marks around this guy. I know that at the national team level you have this capacity of trying to make things complicated for yourself, so what happened around him in the summer was not a surprise for me," Mourinho told reporters.

"But in my club we are not going to have that. He is the club captain, he is the manager's captain, he is the players' captain. I trust him a lot. I think he's going to be a very important player for me and no problem for him.

"He knows that he has to work hard, he knows that but I think that is nothing new in his career. Everything he got I see nobody offer him, he had to fight for it. With me it is not going to be different. But, yes, he is my captain."

United, who are currently in Shanghai on a pre-season tour, will begin their 2016-17 campaign away to Bournemouth on Sunday, August 14.