Fears over Rooney's worsening knee problem ahead of World Cup

London, Mar 23 (ANI): With just 80 days left for start of the World Cup, England's ace striker Wayne Rooney's knee problem appears to be getting worse.

The Manchester United and England star striker is suffering from an inflamed tendon and is causing him increasing discomfort and swells up after games.

Rooney limped heavily as he left Old Trafford four hours after Sunday's 2-1 Premier League win over Liverpool, The Sun reports. e received treatment and is now expected to miss heavy training this week ahead of Saturday's trip to Bolton.

The situation is being closely monitored but is a huge worry for the club and country.

When the situation first flared up three weeks ago, Rooney was told it would be gone in a month. But it seems to be getting worse.

The problem first arose ahead of the Carling Cup final and boss Alex Ferguson left him on the bench to give him a rest. But he had to come on after 30 minutes when Michael Owen got injured.

United cannot afford to rest their in-form top goal scorer with seven games to go in the title race. (ANI)