With Arsene Wenger adding further fuel to the Rooneygate fire today, Manchester United fans will be in tenter hooks until the future of their star man is sorted out. Because, make no mistake, that’s what he is – the star man. It would be easy to forget his importance to the club after such a high profile debut season from Robin van Persie.
Sure RvP is a master finisher and would improve most teams in the world. But Rooney has been the heart and soul of Manchester United for nearly a decade. Would RvP have scored that goal against Aston Villa if it wasn’t for the sublime pass of Rooney? The scouser has dragged the club through thick and thin and it’s hard to imagine Manchester United having won anywhere near as many trophies over the last 8 years had he not been around.
The reason that I would take Rooney every day of the week over RvP, is down to Rooney’s all-round game. The Dutchman has fantastic movement, takes finishing to a new level and holds the ball up beautifully. But he would have to go a long way to take Rooney’s title of Manchester United talisman. Because Rooney is just as good a striker as the Dutchman, but there is so much more to his game. Rooney is also United’s best midfielder and best defender. He puts the hard yards in for his club and doesn’t always get the credit he deserves. He shields the defence, gets back to make crucial tackles and can periodically dominate the midfield. Rooney can control a football match in a way that RvP cannot. All this from a player who is supposed to be a striker.
Manchester United would be mad to let Rooney go. Arsene Wenger has today talked about the prospect of him joining Arsenal. He told Al Jazeera
“Rooney could be an interesting player for everybody in the world, who would turn him down?”
“David Moyes’ first challenge is to go in to Manchester and bridge the gap between him and Rooney. If that is feasible or not depends on his personality and if Rooney bears a grudge or not – we will see. It will be interesting to see how that will be handled.”
David Moyes needs to get on the horn ASAP and pull out all the stops to keep Rooney. Because with Mourinho back at Chelsea and a new impetus at Manchester City, if Rooney does leave the club, you have to fear for Manchester United as the dominant force in English football.
So, our advice to David Moyes would be that if he only makes one big move this summer, it should be to extend the contract of Manchester United’s undisputed top man.
usmanov
Jun 3, 2013 at 9:02 pm
its a good idea if rooney comes but were will we get the money for his wages also i prefare cesc to pay for him more than rooney but its a good idea
sunday Akpan
Jun 3, 2013 at 9:44 pm
It will be a mistake for rooney to leave the club.
Zubair
Jun 3, 2013 at 11:23 pm
Unfortunately I can’t seem to find the authors name ? But I’d just like to say this is by far the best , most accurate article I have read on the Rooney saga thus far . There are united fans out there who believe we no longer need him , some even go as far as calling his performances poor and saying he has passed his peak. Thank you for this article , it’s great to know a few united fans still acknowledge what great, long serving players have done for our beloved club . Wazza #10 our MVP!!!!
timbo
Jun 4, 2013 at 12:38 am
Talk about putting a spin on things. ‘That’ goal was created by a superb player who took what was too deep a pass for 99.9% of other players and turned it into a superb volley into goal. To put it in another perspective, had Rooney been on the end of such a pass you could have bet the house that he wouldn’t have stood a chance of replicating the Dutchman’s effort. People like this author take examples like the fluked effort against City (which was actually a dreadful shot off Rooney’s shin pad that could have gone anywhere) and the recent effort against Brazil and hold them up as basic examples of Rooney’s abilities. No, they’re just incredibly rare example of what any striker can achieve given enough chances and the law of probabilities, and where Rooney is concerned they are are far and away the exception to the rule. There’s a reason why RVP was brought in – because Rooney is an extremely poor technician who squanders chance after chance and costs his team on both points and goal difference. Though Fergie didn’t name names, it was clearly Rooney he was referencing when he reflected on how many chances got blown two seasons ago and how it possibly cost United the title, and the point was backed up both by RVP’s acquisition and Rooney’s demotion further down the field – and eventually to the bench in the important games, WHERE HE BELONGED. He is the most over-rated and over-hyped footballer in recent generations, an individual who’s skill sets are so poor that they can be held up as a stellar example of all that’s wrong with British football. He can’t beat anyone one-on-one to save his life, which means he either passes the ball hurriedly away if a solitary defender approaches him, or lamely sets off laterally hoping someone will be stupid enough to leave a gap for him to take a shot at goal, 90% of which end up being either weak efforts that roll gently to the keeper or scattergun attempts that invariably blaze yards over the goal. Unless people can deliver the ball to him within 10 – 15 yards of the goal it becomes a case for the national lottery whether he can even get the ball remotely close to the net. His limitations are so severe when he’s up front that the entire team ends up having to focus on trying to cater to his few strengths, which invariable handicaps the whole team. The guy can’t make a goal for himself to save his life, and you could probably count on one hand how many of his goals for United have come down to his own abilities and no one elses. The much maligned Berbatov arguably put away as many such efforts in one season as Rooney has managed through all his years at Old Trafford. He also handicaps the team further by the fact that he doesn’t possess the physical stature to play well as a solitary striker against good central defenders, nor does he have the Messi-like ability to make up for his like of size by beating defenders via dribbling skills or agility. This is why he was dropped by Fergie in big games against top flight teams so that United could field a more robust midfield while still fielding a striker up front capable of making a useful contribution, instead of having Rooney sulking around as a non-contributor due to the aforementioned limitations.
Think that’s an unfair assessment? Look at Rooney on the greatest stage of old, playing for his country in major tournaments. Take a look at his goal-scoring efforts for Queen and country and the return looks reasonably impressive. Take a closer look and most of his goal-scoring contributions (as with United) are against the lesser lights in Europe and in innocuous friendlies. Where it counts, in the World Cup and in the European championship, his figures make for highly embarrassing reading. Until the one meaningless goal he scored in the most recent European championship, Rooney had gone through major tournament after another for England for something like eight year without scoring. And people wondered why the England manager claimed that Rooney only played well for United!
So what were the alternatives? To drop him back into a midfield role, where he’s a complete waste of space incapable of holding the ball and arguably the team wastrel when it comes to squandering possession. He would probably be in a dead heat with the latter day Ryan Giggs for coughing up the ball in dangerous situations and puttinf his own defense under threat. His passing in general is abysmal, and for that once in a hundred attempts that sets up something like the RVP goal there’s the other 99 that are either innocuous lateral or back passes which are a clear concession to his chronic inability to take on defenses, or simply stupid and ill-judged efforts that all too frequently kill attacks and set up the other team for another run at United. The only thing Rooney was every really good at was utilizing his pace to try and catch teams on the counter-attack, because it covered for his lack of technique in trying to cut through them, but in recent years even that has fallen markedly away to a point where most defenders can run him down pretty effortlessly these days, forcing him to either pull up and pass the ball away, or take another one of his lottery-like long range efforts. As a United fan of over 45 years standing, I for one would be only too happy to see Rotney move on, because it would it would finally remove the player I consider to have been the greatest handicap to the team in years,and free up a great deal of money that could be used to shore up the team where it’s needed most – in midfield. I fervently hope that someone is stupid enough to come up with the kind of money that’s being bandied about in the press, because it would go down as the most one-sided deal in favour of United ever seen.
Limpar's Wand
Jun 4, 2013 at 4:59 am
Wow… seriously?! And I’m an Arsenal fan!
Rooney, despite being a fat, ugly troll, and playing for Man Utd, is one of the few players I’d pay money to see. Not so I can laugh at how ugly he is, or so I can count asian tourists with cameras at Man U games, but because he is a genuine class footballer, a troubled genius! He sees and tries things others don’t, and can carry the weight of a team on his shoulders, lifting the level of those around him. He didn’t have his greatest season, and has been relatively inconsistent recently (by his standards) but there is no doubt as a rival fan I fear him more than any other Utd player, more than rvp even.
Personally, and I know all these rumours are pure rubbish and we would never sign him, I do think Wenger could bring out the best in him again. Perhaps a more laid back, generous style of man management would suit him better at this point in his career. Fergie was an aggressive taskmaster with his players, and that fear motivated his teams to win countless trophies, so I don’t question that lol. I just think that it stopped working with rooney. Maybe he needs a change of scenery if we are to see what a wonderful player he is more consistently. I’d have him in a heartbeat, simply for the lift it would give the whole squad and especially our great crop of young british players. Shame about Man CIty and Chelsea and how Man U had to pay him 260,000 pounds a week to keep him. No chance he’s coming to Arsenal lol
Zubair
Jun 5, 2013 at 9:18 am
By far the dumbest evaluation of a player I have ever read . If ur intention was to show off ur writing skills with a sparkling cocktail of words , well done . Substance wise , ur comment is utter trash , I suggest u stop watching football as it seems an anxious waste of your time
Zubair
Jun 5, 2013 at 9:26 am
Btw that was directed at timbo not you limpo , also I’m not one of those blind united supporters , I haven’t forgot the keanne viera rivalry days and whilst most united fans have completely disregarded AFC , I have great respect for your team and manager . If moyes can’t do it yet , I pray wenger puts mourinho in his place as , as far as I’m concerned , he is the only manager capable of doing so this season . United for life , but the logical bet as crazy as some blind men may think is arsenal for the league next season , add Wayne Rooney , it surely strengthens that chance . I pray that won’t be the case , but I live arsenal supporters purely due to their insight into football , which separates them from the many clueless glory supporters that hail from CFC City and united . Goodluck to wenger , arsenal , and their fans . But I still despise u lads 😉 cheers limpar