Blog: Federico Macheda is in the wrong job, writes Ben Bentley. The Manchester United starlet should have listened to his careers advisor and instead applied for the role of cultural spokesman for modern society.

Why? Because he was bang on when he branded Wayne Rooney a “chav”. Because, er, he is one. At least in the eyes of the common man.

Walk into any pub and ask the bloke at the bar (the one with the dog on a bit of string, supping a pint of black ‘n’ tan) what the definition of a chav is.

He will, without a shadow of a doubt, turn round, burp, and say: “That bloke with the funny ‘ed who plays for Manchester United . . . Wayne Rooney.”

Okay, dear old Wayne would probably disagree that he is one, but “chav” is the kind of term owned by other people, for use by other people, usually in pubs and tabloid newspapers.

As a half-hearted football fan, I had barely even heard of Federico Macheda before today. Now, following “chav-gate” (TM), I will hang on to his every word.

What will the soothsayer come out with next?

We certainly wait with baited breath for his next series of controversial truths about his Manchester United team-mates.

“Paul Scholes, shock-horror, has ginger hair.” “Rio Ferdinand is really tall. AND he has an interesting mouth.”

“Ryan Giggs is really good at football. The other thing about him is that he’s quite hairy.”

“Dimitar Berbatov is a classy and complete centre-forward who looks a bit like the film star Andy Garcia.”

And finally, following much umming and agh-ing and several clarifications, the truth that we have all been waiting for.

“Wayne Rooney is. . . er. . . well. . . kind of. . . not a chav.”

Really? Oh, ok. Sorry about all of the above then.

Macheda says he meant the chav jibe affectionately, even likening Rooney’s “chav-iness” to his own, but his comments were no own goal.

For me, they were bang on target and hit the back of the net like a rocket. Now if only he could do his talking on the pitch like that . . .