Football Leagues » Premier League » Will Rooney play for United again?
Will Rooney play for United again?
England: Will Rooney play for United again?
Marc Fox
Wayne Rooney's outburst about Manchester United's declining ambition predictably raised Sir Alex Ferguson's hackles this week, yet Ferguson and Rooney share the exact same hunger and drive to achieve the sport's biggest prizes and some have been left wondering whether the Scot might have seen what was coming.
An annoyed Ferguson publicly dismissed Rooney's jibe on Wednesday night by pointing out that the club had plundered "30 trophies" during his 24-year tenure.
But behind the scenes on Thursday desperate discussions were being staged between David Gill and Paul Stretford, Rooney's agent, in a bid to find the kind of common ground it appeared Ferguson and Rooney were forever to hold.
The official line from the club might have been that yesterday heralded "no developments" in their discussions over the future of Rooney, but the personal pressure on the United striker was ratcheted up several notches last night when a group of militant supporters gathered to protest outside the star's Cheshire mansion about his rumoured move to cross-city rivals Manchester City.
Whether a switch to City represents a move to a club with greater ambition only time will tell..
But the facts are clear that it is United who have been England's most successful club during the six seasons Rooney has been at Old Trafford with three Premier League titles and the 2008 Champions League success, closely followed, of course, by reigning champions Chelsea.
Indeed, in terms of the silverware the England striker so obviously craves there have been few more successful clubs across Europe than Manchester United since Rooney signed from Everton, becoming the world's most expensive teen in the process.
However, if Rooney's is assessing United's future potential to continue to compete with the likes of Barca and Inter Milan based on their recent 'inputs', he might just have a platform for his case.
United have notably failed to lavish the magnitude of transfer fees in recent summers that they did in the four subsequent summer transfer windows since signing Rooney for a little over £25 million when they brought in the likes of Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick, Nani, Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov.
Recent acquisitions have clearly been with one eye on the future, but that ideology might not sit well with Rooney given Ferguson's likely retirement in the next few years (not to mention Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes) and his desire to continue to personally improve by playing alongside players of a similar stature or better.
The recent takeover struggle at Liverpool has only served to reinforce the antipathy of supporters towards debt-ladling US owners, and there's little doubt that Rooney would not be alone in thinking that the Glazer's ownership is hampering rather than sustaining United's ability to attract the world's best.
And so it is left to Ferguson, who Rooney described in a statement this week as a "mentor and a genius", to use the charm he deployed to keep wantaway Cristiano Ronaldo at Old Trafford for a season longer than the Portuguese planned, during which he plundered 34 goals before sealing his £80 million switch to Real.
With the extent of Rooney's latest ankle injury unknown, it is not clear how much of a part he will play for United before the January transfer window opens in 10 weeks.
But Ferguson does not have a history of selling players mid-season and can be expected to plead with Rooney to help him regain the Premier League title before being allowed to leave with a year of his current contract remaining next summer.
© Marc Fox & Soccerphile.com
|
|
|
|