Will Wayne Rooney leave Old Trafford?
There appear to be some chinks in the Manchester United armour as there are speculations in the media that Wayne Rooney may be heading out of the club.
Manchester United have come out and vehemently dismissed the talks of the striker leaving Old Trafford as ‘non-sense’ but the facts point to something else.
"To suggest that Wayne Rooney will be sold in January is nonsense," said a club spokesman.
Rooney has one and a half year remaining on his existing contract and the talks had stalled when the two parties sat down before the world cup over some issue but in recent weeks, the striker’s relationship with the manager has strained and now there appears
some uncertainty about the player’s future at the club.
Media reports claim that the player’s agent has informed the club that Rooney will not sign a new contract with the club which gives the club no option other than to cash on their most priced asset.
The relationship between the manager and player has taken a nose dive ever since the stories about the personal life of the striker emerged in newspapers at the beginning of last month.
Rooney then did not help the deteriorating relations as he directly challenged his manager’s authority after England’s qualifier against Montenegro last Tuesday, when he went out of way to contradict Sir Alex’s claim that the striker has been suffering from
an ankle injury.
Sir Alex has so far not issued any public statement on the issue but his verdict was clear to all and sundry when he left the prolific striker out of United’s game against West Brom on Saturday. Rooney only made an appearance in the game as a substitute,
coming on in the 72nd minute and had to play in an un-natural position on the left wing.
Although, Rooney’s exclusion from the game is seen by many as the final straw but the fact of the matter is that the relationship between the two had turned sour some time ago.
Since the initial talks over the proposed new contract stalled back in May, there appears to be no intention from the player’s side to re-open the negotiations.
The news had come as a shock to football fans all over the world as it was only last season that Rooney was the top scorer for United, scoring 34 goals then.
Rooney has so far scored only one goal this season and that too from the penalty spot but he still remains a darling of the Old Trafford faithful.
United’s options are limited. If the striker does not want to sign a new deal with them, they can sit back and hope for a thaw in relations but at the same time, they must also be aware of the fact that Rooney’s market value will plummet considerably if
he is not sold in January.
In the next 12 months after January 2011, he can sign a pre-contract agreement with any club in the world and leave on a Bosman transfer in the following summer of 2012.
If Rooney is all set to leave the club then the club CEO, David Gill will try anything and everything in his power to get the highest possible transfer fee.
Real Madrid will obviously be interested, so will be Barcelona along with every other top club including Manchester City, but seeing Rooney play for Manchester City will be the ultimate irony for every Manchester United fan.
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