As a Man United fan the events of the past week have been a bit worrying to say the least. The knowledge that your best player, and the finest English player of his generation, wants to leave the club is massive news. It’s gutting, and at first I couldn’t understand it, but the more you think about it the more you realise he does have a point.
Wayne Rooney’s motive for wanting to leave was never going to be about money. First of all he must be earning a packet already, secondly the club offered him a deal which they claimed would make him the highest paid player in the league, and thirdly I just don’t see him as that kind of bloke. True, he’s a bit of a dick when it comes to the way he treats his wife, but you know what I mean. But then you get people on their soap box like Mark Lawrenson saying it’s definitely money oriented, like he has the first idea what’s going on behind the scenes? Nobody does, so it’s not fair to speculate. What I will say though is that if he does want loads of money, bloody give it to him before some other team does! Top players cost top bucks these days, and yes, they are worth it. Man United are one of the biggest clubs on the planet, and to stay that way you need the biggest stars playing for you.
The reason he’s given is a lack of ambition from the club and that he hasn’t been given assurances that the right kind of marquee player will be bought in the near future. And this is where I can agree with Wayne, because in the last three seasons who has been brought in? Luis Antonio Valencia to replace Ronaldo. Ok, he had a decent first season, but just no. Gabriel Obertan? A fading (faded) Michael Owen, Chris Smalling (oh dear god) and who the hell is this tramp Bebe?!
I know the club has massive debts and I don’t want to get into that as I don’t really know enough about it, but when you get £80 million for Ronaldo and the only player that comes into the team is Valencia for £16 million then there’s going to be a few people that start to ask questions. We haven’t had a big signing since Berbatov and he’s now in his third season at the club. He is the only decent player to have come in during a spell where we’ve let Ronaldo and Tevez slip away. The last season they were both at the club they contributed around 40 goals and a huge number of assists between them. It’s no wonder the team is looking toothless at the moment. Man United used to regularly buy big names. Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Seba Veron, van Nistelrooy and Rooney himself to name but a few. It doesn’t seem to be the policy anymore. Then again, you can’t really argue with Fergie given his track record. He must have something up his sleeve. And of course I could be made to eat my words if we smash Stoke at the weekend, such is the nature of the game, but at the moment I’m not feeling too optimistic about the rest of the season.
What now for Rooney then? Has he played his last game in a red shirt? I’ve heard a lot of people in the press saying that the other players in the squad will react badly to Rooney’s statement, which they have every right to. From watching this video of their thoughts on it, they seem to be pretty united (no pun intended) in their stance. As a side note, Patrice Evra is ace. It will be quite difficult for him to get on and play in the same way with the team as he has done before. The statement makes no secret of the fact that he isn’t happy with the current squad and the other players will be wondering if he’s talking about them or not. Personally I think he’ll play again as soon as he’s fit. He’s still an awesome player, and it might just take that one magic touch or even a dodgy goal deflected in off his arse for him to feel the passion of the supporters and realise what a massive player he is for the club. Fergie has left the door open this time, unlike for Beckham and Ruud, so there’s every chance Rooney will still be a United player this time next year. I think he will, I bloody hope so anyway.