Charlton can't see anyone beating Rooney's new strike standard

Manchester United's all-time leading scorer for more than four decades, Sir Bobby Charlton is both disappointed to lose his place in club history and happy to see Wayne Rooney carve out his own.

And no one for a "long, long time" will come close to challenging Rooney's new benchmark, according to the United legend.

Rooney curled in a fantastic free-kick to reach 250 goals as a member of the Red Devils and secure a late 1-1 draw in Saturday's otherwise frustrating fixture against Stoke City.

Charlton was there at Stoke's bet365 Stadium to take part in the changing of the guard, and later congratulated Rooney in the dressing room.

"It’s over 40 years since I scored the last of my 249 goals for Manchester United, so I must admit that I have become used to the honour of being the club's all-time top goalscorer!" Charlton admitted in an interview with the club's website.

"We have had some incredible strikers here at Old Trafford and they have scored a lot of goals, but it has been fairly obvious for a while now that Wayne Rooney was going to be the one likeliest to break my record, and now that day has come, I would be lying to say that I'm not disappointed to have lost the record.

"However, I can honestly say that I'm delighted for Wayne. He deserves his place in the history books."

Related - 250 goals and counting: Rooney sets United's all-time scoring record

Rooney arrived in 2004 as a prodigious teenager from a suburb of Liverpool, and went on to set an array of records, including England's all-time scoring mark. Charlton also led the Three Lions in goals for a considerable number of years, but Rooney, who has captained both club and country, bested his predecessor's international goal total in September 2015.

History was made that day from the penalty spot in a Euro qualifier against Switzerland, but it was much more memorable on Saturday. Rooney's swerving kick in stoppage time was impossible to stop.

Although the 31-year-old is a substitute as much as a starter in the Premier League this season, he has still found a way to contribute.

And with a contract until June 2019, Rooney has every chance to pad his record even more.

"I was 35 when I retired. Wayne is only 31 and still going strong, so I don't think he's done by a long stretch yet. He continues to show that he can contribute goals, assists, and performances whenever called upon, he will raise the bar even further before he calls it a day," said Charlton.

"Now he's the man to beat, and I can't see anybody doing that for a long, long time."