David Beckham has warned that any attempt to calm Wayne Rooney would take the sting out of the young striker's game.

Wayne Rooney's temperament has been the subject of much discussion recently in the wake of his sending off against Fulham at the weekend.

'Wazza' was dismissed after a second yellow card which he received for throwing the ball back to where a foul had been committed in an aggressive attempt to speed up the game.

The 23-year-old punched the corner flag as he exited the field on Sunday, an incident that Fabio Capello has tried to make light of with Rooney during training. But AC Milan ace and former England captain David Beckham believes that attempts to calm Rooney down will result in a dip in the striker's form.

"With Wayne Rooney you don't get the exceptional talent and player you have without that side of his game," Beckham said at a press conference.

"If you take that side out of his game he becomes a different player, a different animal. You don't want to take that out of him.

"Sometimes it flows over. He's done it a few times with myself. It happens. He knows it's not right, I know it's not right, but it happens.

"You don't want to take that out of him."

A memorable incident for most Manchester United fans would be the famous spat between Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo during the 2006 World Cup, another incident that had him seeing red, but this time at an international level.

In spite of this, Beckham insists that he is confident of Rooney's ability to control his temper in a major tournament, and continues to hail the striker's competitiveness as an integral part of his game.

"I've got no concerns whatsoever," added Beckham.

"Taking that away from a player is dangerous and I don't think anyone will try to take that away from Wayne."

"He's got enough people around him, there isn't a stronger manager than Sir Alex Ferguson to look after him and also Fabio Capello.

"He has two managers who can get the best out of him and they do that."

Stephen Crawford, Goal.com