Rooney talk must be cause for concern at Old Trafford
These are troubling times for anyone associated with Manchester United, as well as the lacklustre performances, there are greater concerns about the long-term stability of the club as the true extent of their crippling debts becomes clearer. Nobody outside the club is really quite sure of how much of the Cristiano Ronaldo fee is available to Sir Alex Ferguson and how much of it went to servicing the debt. The decision to not seek a replacement has left the squad lacking that extra bit of magic and it’s a testament to the managerial skills of Ferguson that his side are still in with a chance of winning 3 trophies considering how they have played so far this season. A growing concern for fans of the club is the position of Wayne Rooney; he is the club’s most valuable player and though his commitment to United cannot be doubted, is there a chance that he could be sold?
Rooney has no desire to leave United and has made it clear that he would be happy to see out his career at Old Trafford. As it is, his value is such that there are very few clubs that could even think about putting a bid in for the England striker. But there are a couple of sides who will have one eye on the state of affairs at United. The two cash-rich sides of the moment are City and Real Madrid.
In recent years Real Madrid have begin treating Manchester United as a feeder club; from Beckham to van Nistelrooy and then Ronaldo. Nemanja Vidic is thought to be next on their hit-list but the club is also thought to be keen on Rooney as a replacement for Raul, and Ronaldo has said that he would love it if his former United colleague were to join him at the Bernabeu.
It would be crazy for United to sell Rooney given that all their attacking play goes through him now; the form of Berbatov has meant that Rooney has had to shoulder the responsibility of scoring goals. He is in great form this season despite having to play as a lone striker at times. But irrespective of the bond between the player and the club; you have to wonder if United are in a position to reject a massive bid from either Real Madrid or Manchester City. Rooney is one of the world’s best and as a starting figure his value in the current market would be around £40million, but both Real Madrid and City have shown that they would be willing to pay much higher fees to get the players they want; City were willing to pay £100million for Kaka.
In the same way that Liverpool would be forced to think about an astronomical bid for Torres if it came in; United would certainly have to consider a bid for Rooney if it was high enough, such is their precarious financial situation. This should be a real concern for United fans as without Rooney, the current United side begins to look very average and if he was sold; there is no guarantee that the manager would be able to use all of the fee to replenish his squad.
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City are at base camp of Everest, saying that I believe they’ll achieve two out of three domestic honours this season and one of them will be finishing above Utd in the Premier League, if that’s good enough to win it, we’ll have to wait and see. Our journey is just beginning, 3 years from now we’ll dominate European football for many many years to come. We now have a player in Carlos Tevez that is proving his worth equally to us equally as much as Rooney’s worth to United. The massive differnce between our two club is that United are crippled with debt, have a first team squad where half of them are approaching pension status and a club that is rapidly on a downward spiral. City on the other hand couldn’t be further apart… The richest club in the world and probably the most ambitious. City will attract the very very best and will simply bush United aside with the same disrespectful attitude they have shown towards us for the past couple of decades. If Wayne Rooney has true ambition then he should advise his agents to knock very loudly on Eastlands door… or miss the wave and drift aimlessly out to sea on the sinking ship “MV Manchester United”
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Can’t see him leaving any time soon but if the financial problems are as bad as it’s suggested then he could be on his way out within the next few years
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This is just idiotic talk. Selling Rooney would be the beginning of the end, the start of a Leeds-style spiral into bancruptcy. You think the Glazers are that stupid, that they would just destroy a $2Bn asset like that? If things get desparate why wouldn’t they just sell the club on to another investor or float it on the stock market? It’s gone up in value since they bought, they can always get out with a profit.
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