What does Wayne Rooney have on the plus side of his account with United?
He is the clubs leading all-time goalscorer. He is the captain of United as well as of England, although the impression is that both appointments were made due to a massive shortage of suitable candidates. He has been a decent player for a few seasons whilst never reaching the heights thought possible when he first appeared for Everton. That’s about it!
Unless I am missing something glaringly obvious then Rooney hasn’t actually contributed massively to United’s success over the years. That isn’t to say that he hasn’t contributed at all, he has, just not to the extent that some people, himself included, would have us believe.
Now, what does he have on the minus side of his account?
We first started to get a glimpse of his real character in 2010 when, having been at United for a few years, he decided that he was bigger than the club and requested a transfer. When this happened he should have been sold immediately. Despite the rumours of him wanting to go to City, he wouldn’t have gone there as he was scared off the idea by United fans politely protesting outside his house in the dead of night. He could and should have gone to Chelsea, but didn’t. Instead United treated him as though he actually was bigger than the club by giving him a massive pay rise.
He then went reasonably quiet and decidedly average for three years before, supposedly, asking for a transfer again. I say “supposedly” because he denies it and we only have Sir Alex Ferguson’s word that it happened. I prefer to believe Ferguson but I think there was a little more to it. Rooney probably did ask for a transfer before the news of Ferguson’s retirement was made public. It was probably also agreed that it would be kept quiet as Rooney was worried about the reaction of the fans, with good reason as well! This is why he denied it when Ferguson announced the request. Ferguson was going and Rooney, by now regretting his decision, wanted to see who replaced Fergie. So despite three very average seasons since his last transfer request and pay rise, he was given another pay rise.
As we all know, to our eventual displeasure, Ferguson was replaced by David Moyes who was replaced by Louis van Gaal. Van Gaal, for some reason known only to himself, decided Rooney would be his captain. This a player who doesn’t shout, is a poor example of how to behave off the pitch, what with prostitutes and holding the club to ransom, and by this stage was not even one of the best players!
By the time van Gaal was sacked, United had slipped to a fifth placed finish in the league, thus not qualifying for the Champion’s League, but had won the FA Cup. Rooney’s influence had again been very negligible throughout the season. In fact, for much of it, he was one of the worst players and would have been dropped had it not been for his “special privileges” as captain.
Van Gaal has since been replaced by Jose Mourinho who has said that Rooney will remain captain. I doubt he will have many, if any, special privileges with this manager. Mourinho has also said that Rooney is not a holding midfielder, that he is a striker or an attacking central midfielder. This is interesting as United have enough strikers with Ibrahimovic, Martial and Rashford, not to have to rely on Rooney. They certainly have enough midfielders who are as good, if not better, than he is. Just because he can hit the occasional long pass accurately does not turn him into Paul Scholes. This alone should not merit a place in the team.
When all said and done Wayne Rooney, along with a few others, is not good enough for Manchester United and should be moved on. Everton could now be an attractive proposition for him with Ronald Koeman in charge, although it remains to be seen whether Koeman would want an ageing, past his best Rooney at the club.
Apparently, there are also offers from China but his best option is probably to go to the MLS, where he can get away with the standard of football he has been playing for the last few years whilst having a decent lifestyle as well.