Manchester United legend Gary Neville believes Wayne Rooney will need to adapt as he gets older to continue getting better, like Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, if he is to stay at the top of the game for another ten years.

Rooney recently completed his ten years in the English Premier League, having made his debut for Everton as a 16-year-old, with that spectacular goal against Arsenal impossible to forget.

From a precociously talented teenager, Rooney has become a more mature player and is arguably England's biggest asset currently. However, at 26, Neville believes Rooney will slowly have to reinvent himself, much in the mould of United legends Scholes and Giggs, to continue being the best.

"At the age of 26, you always have to think that there's more to come," Neville told BBC 5 Live. "You can't get to the age of 26 and think, 'My best years have gone.' He has to now challenge himself.

"He has great examples of players who have continued to do that in Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, how they have adapted their games.

"Giggs has gone from a flying, out-and-out left-winger to someone who now plays off the front, inside-left, he plays central midfield.

"Scholes was a goalscoring midfielder, off-the-front No. 10 player when he started playing as a 16-year-old.

"Now he's a holding midfielder who controls the game."

That change could happen sooner rather than later, with Rooney being deployed in a much deeper role with the arrival of the prolific Dutchman Robin Van Persie. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has used Rooney in the playmaking role of the diamond formation, and the England forward has thrived in that position so far.

"You have to adapt," Neville added. "Rooney is still a center-forward, but he'll adapt over this next 10 years to continue to become someone who's thought of in the same way as those two players.

"He's a wonderful player. Rooney is best when he plays like the street kid -- fights for every ball, loves playing football, wants to take every free kick, every throw-in, tackles, heads, fights like he has the passion to win.

"The last couple of weeks, coming back from injury, I've seen a lean, fit, hungry Rooney.

"He looks like he is up for the next challenge in his career, to maintain his position at Manchester United but he looks like he is really up for it."