Wayne Rooney believes a move back into midfield will prevent him following in the footsteps of Michael Owen and seeing his career end early.
The Manchester United captain has been used in a deeper position more often by manager Louis van Gaal this season and scored as a midfielder in Sunday's 3-0 win over Liverpool.
The 29-year-old said: "It is a different system and a new position again for me this season but I have played it before. It is a different way of playing. I am enjoying it. I like to learn different roles and I think it will help me on the pitch and after football if I go into management. I am enjoying my football."
Rooney's former United and England teammate Owen rose to prominence as a teenager but retired at just 33 and rarely played first-team football after he turned 30.
On his midfield role, Rooney added: "I think it can help me in years to come. You see top players like Michael Owen retire. He was one of the world's best players but I don't think he could drop back into midfield so, once his pace had gone through injuries, that was kind of the end.
"But I feel I can drop back and I am sure it will give me an extra few years at the end of my career."
The victory against Liverpool was United's sixth in as many league games and, after they dropped to 10th with their Manchester derby defeat, they are now third.
Rooney feels United, who finished seventh last season, could become champions again this season.
"We have to believe we can win the title," he added. "We are eight points behind [leaders Chelsea] and coming into a busy period. If we can win our games and the others have one bad result then there is nothing there. We have been here before but we have a lot of new players and this is where the experience of myself, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher can rub off on the other players.
"We have to keep winning our games and hopefully get back to the top and you never know. We have shown a great resilience.
"We won the league two years ago and we weren't great in a lot of those games but we got the results. Sometimes you have to do that. I have seen Chelsea a couple of times this season where they have not played great but have nicked it as well."