The Elephant in the Room – Wayne Rooney

Posted by Rob Shepherd on Thursday, June 22, 2017

If reports are to be believed, Manchester United will spend big this year. This inevitably leads to questions being asked if United’s captain, Wayne Rooney can still make an impact with the Red Devils. Fans of the club are pretty split on this, in this article I make the case for and against the Croxteth born striker.

The Case for Wayne Rooney Staying

How is this even a debate? Wayne Rooney has been at the club for 13 years. In that time, he became club captain as well as the captain for England. He is United’s all-time leading goal scorer and his experience will prove vital as United prepare for Champions League football next year.

Rooney has proved his desire to do well next season and has in fact started pre-season training early. This work ethic will rub off on younger players such as Marcus Rashford and Angel Gomes.

It’s easy to forget the huge impact that Rooney has had since he joined as an 18-year-old from Everton. In that time Wayne has won the Champions League, Europa League, World Club championship, four league cups and the Premier League on five occasions. Rooney has been instrumental in helping his team win these honours.

Who can forget Rooney’s debut hat-trick against Fenerbahçe? His amazing Volley against Newcastle to help United win 2-1? His goal against Arsenal from a Mikael Silvestre cross? And of course, his amazing overhead kick against bitter rivals City to win the match 2-1.

The 31-year-old still has a couple of years left in him and it would be madness to weaken the team, even if he is just a bit part player next season. #Rooneystay

The Case for Wayne Rooney Going

I can’t give you a reason for Wayne Rooney to go, I can give you 290,000 reasons! His reported weekly wage of £290,000 is a ridiculous amount of money.

To put that figure into context, Marcus Rashford is on £20,000, Anthony Martial is on £65,000 and Mata is on £140,000 per week. Is Rooney worth 14x more? Certainly, not on current form and that leads me to my next point.

Rooney is just not able to influence games like you used to. What we get from Rooney is a headless chicken who runs around looking angry and is more a liability than he is a goal threat. There is no doubt that Rooney was a great player but unfortunately, time has caught up with Wayne and there are better options for the team out there.

The lack of form has not been an overnight situation, Rooney has been in decline for quite a while as you will see in the figures.

In his first league season with United he played 32 games, scored an impressive 26 league goals and made 3 assists, his average match rating was 7.91. His Champions League form was just as good with 6 games, 5 goals and 2 assists which earned him an average rating of 7.42. This is in stark contrast with this season. He started only 15 league games (10 as sub) and scored a career low of 5 goals, this was also the amount of assists he made. His average match rating is 6.89.

If we compare Rooney’s stats with alleged Manchester United target Alvaro Morata. Morata actually started one less game than Rooney but whereas Rooney scored 5 in 15, Morata scored 15 goals in 14 appearances with 4 assists thrown in. As mentioned Rooney is 31, Morata is 24.

What is also worth pointing out is that Rooney is pretty ineffective as an impact sub. On the 14 games he has come on as a substitute, he only found the net once. Morata scored 7 goals in 20 sub appearances. That’s why I don’t feel he is worth the sort of money he is on to use as a person who can make a difference, the truth is, he doesn’t!

Rather than aid the development of youngsters, I would voice that Rooney actually hinders them. A match-day squad can only contain so many players, I would rather see exciting youngster Angel Gomes given a chance rather than the long and painful torture that is seeing first hand Rooney’s decline.

For all Rooney’s achievements and the many great moments that he has produced, I feel United fans will never see Rooney in the same light as greats such as Charlton, Best, Law, Robson and Cantona. Many loyal supporters are still furious with what they saw as Rooney holding the club to ransom over a transfer request. I think in time they will look back once he has left the club with greater affection than is shown now. #Rooneygo

Is Rooney Likely to Leave?

Three weeks ago, I would have bet £500 on it, now? Not so sure.

Rooney himself has not hidden the fact that his future is uncertain. In a recent interview, he said;

“I’ve got decisions to make now over the next few weeks, have a word with my family, and then I’ll decide. I think I just have to make a decision in terms of a football decision, and that’s what I’ll do.

“I’ll do that the next few weeks with my family while I’m away and, honestly, as soon as I know what’s going on then, I’m sure you (will know).”

A big issue with any perspective move is unlikely to be the transfer fee but rather Wayne’s huge weekly wage. There are few clubs that can afford or would want to on a 31-year-old. China has often been mooted as a possible destination, they may be less of a possibility with China introducing a 100% tax on clubs who sign foreigners. In all respect to Wayne, great footballer that he is, I really don’t see him swopping pies for chopsticks but I could be wrong. The USA remains an outsider bet.

Everton remain the likeliest destination. Everton have new mega rich owners and Farhad Moshiri has publicly stated there is £200 million available for transfers so this doesn’t sound as unlikely as it did before Moshiri’s takeover. But even with these resources, I would be surprised if they were willing to match Rooney’s present contract.

What do the Bookies Think?

Not surprisingly the bookies disagree with me, they think a Chinese club is the most likely destination. You can also get odds of 7/4 that he will stay at United.

Next Club Odds for Wayne Rooney