To my horror last week, I stumbled upon something I never wished to see. No, it was not Robbie Savage in pink spandex, but a rumour in a newspaper stating that Real Madrid were willing to sell the prolific Gonzalo Higuain to part fund a deal for Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney.
Now considering selling Higuain is bad enough – if only for the fact getting a number 20 and his name on my away shirt would then become about as good a value for money as buying Andy Carroll – but to buy Wayne Rooney? Really Perez?
It is at this point that I fully expect United fans and Wayne Rooney fanatics – of which I am sure there are a lot – preparing the abuse and negative comments for the end of this article. If this is the case, I warn you look away now, it’s about to get much worse.
To me Wayne Rooney is a very good player. But that is all. He is not and never will be an all-time great in the way a Messi or Ronaldo will be. Nor is he really that consistent a goal scorer. Whilst he is more than capable of getting goals, they tend to come in patches, and yes, Rooney is capable of having a scintillating month or even season, but he does not follow it up time after time.
You may now point out that United have Rooney to thank for their success over the last few seasons, and whilst in part I agree he is an important player, I would put the success down to one of the very best managers in the world, not to mention a host of class players around Rooney – including what was a water tight defence and a midfield that could boast the best of a generation Paul Scholes. Up top, Hernandez last season was prolific, and this time round Welbeck looks nearly as good.
My point is that Rooney has not been solely responsible for United’s success, and is not special enough to warrant the inclusion in the Real Madrid side.
Your allowed not to rate Rooney up there Ronaldo and messi, because simply he is not up there with them, noone else in the world comes close to these two. However you can’t have a team made up of just Ronaldo and messi so therefore back to your original point of Rooney, and course there is a place for him at real, should that ever happen. He is a far better player than benzema and higuain, he will score as many goals as them and will add so much more to the team, you do realize his goal scoring record for utd is 1 in 2 which stands up there with the best, he is the complete forward, you only have to listen to foreign players talk about him, believe me when I say the likes of Xavi don’t read the tabloids there opinions are made on the pitch. So does Rooney have a place at real, of course he woul have one at any team in the world, not gonna happen anyway
Simon, I wish it would happen if Real want to come up with 55million as the rumours speculate
Fergie should drive him to the Airport,i understand some of your points my friend, and you
make good relevent comments,But i am over seventy
years of age, and followed United for well over sixty years,i have seen many players far superior
to Wayne Rooney who would give their last drop of blood just to wear the shirt for Manchester United,
Rooney is a Mercenary and nothing else, no
matter if you like it or not he held Manchester United to ransom and sadly they caved in,
If any fairy book character could describe
Rooney, then Umpty Dumpty would fit him perfectly.
shrek
Lol, better still.
Wayne Rooney plays as a no.10 he plays behind the striker the same position players like kaka and ozil play for real..nt only is he versatile to play as a no.9 but also as a left winger a centre mid and smetimes even a left back..wen was the last time Ronaldo messi or any other striker played like that..he’s a utility man and granted he does not dribble past players like Ronaldo but if u r so narrow minded enough to see only this aspect of the game then u shouldn’t be here publishing articles…..also u talk about the likes of good players around Rooney but what abt the players around Ronaldo and messi..please use sme brains before publishing articles about other players
gud jab simon. i respect u 4 ur clear sense in analysing matters.
So because he’s not as good as them two they shouldn’t want him? Surely that means they shouldn’t buy another forward for a few years! nobody comes close to Messi & Ronaldo!
If only United had a better midfield like that of Madrid, he would have scored more than Ronaldo. Just because he has a goal drought you cannot demean his quality..He is more versatile than Roanldo and Messi and I guess, he lacks in showboating that would appease some viewers like the writer himself.
hey aussiehopper, i appreciate what you are saying about Rooney being a merc but at the end of the day, the days of loyal football players has well and truly gone out the window, and you would just be replacing him with yet another greedy player.
Rooney is fundamental to this utd team, and without him we really struggle. However i do agree with you that there have been plenty of better players to come through the doors, but right now he is our best and even for 55 million i dont think we could replace is importance to the team, also do you really think the Glaziers would allow us to spend the entire amount??? 80 mill ring any bells??
Question for you if he goes on to beat Charlton’s record how will you feel about his ability then??
To the author, i actually missed the second page when i first commented, i am quite surprised that you feel Benzema is a better player, Rooney’s goal average is slightly better and his overall involvement is incomparible to Benzema’s. We all know Utd’s midfield is lacking right now, and has been for a few years now, so can you imagine the damage Rooney would do with Ozil,Ronaldo,Di Maria,Alsono and co feeding the ball through to him. I actually think he is a great number 9, but we need him in the 10 slot as we dont have the creative ability behind him. The way to look at this situation is Real and Barce do not need him but if they are willing to spend 50/60 million on him then they obviously feel that he is good enough to start,again i sincerely doubt this will happen.
Simon,
Its good to find intelligent people commenting on football matters,debating situations
is a good way to solve problems that develop at ones club, im a great believer in constructive criticism especially as everyone has a different
perspective on what is needed to be succesful,
People say Messi is the greatest player the world has seen, but Messi plays with football boots
that space age technology has developed, and with a football that practicly floats on air,
Messi could not hold a candle to Stanly Mathews
to see what Mathews could do with a football that was more like a pumkin when waterlogged, and
football boots that would have been better
utilised climbing Mount Everest was a sight to behold, but that is only my opinion?, sadly he didnt play for Manchester United.
You ask how i would feel if he breaks Bobby
Charltons goal scoring record, well i would have to give him credit and accept that he has been brilliant, i do not mind being proven wrong
but there is more Simon to just kicking goals,
Bobby Charlton was a true gentleman and a credit
to Manchester United football club, personaly
i dont believe Rooney has anywhere near that standing in World football, so if he does kick
more goals than Bobby Charlton yes i will give him credit for that, but if Real want to offer 55mil then sell him.
Evry playa is unique, thus being great footballers in different ways, the current group of united players are not as good as the barca team, the way they compliment each other is unbelievable, n let’s face it xavi n iniesta mk messi look good, as for Ronaldo, he’s performances hv deteriorated, he can’t cum up wit da goods in big games, temperament is a key factor…
Hate to admit, but without Rooney, Utd is not even a top 4 team in the Prem. He’s vital to success of this team, unless we bring in or develop another star in midfield.
And please stop the excessive praise for Scholes. Yes, he was world-class, but that was many years ago. He was awful his last 2 seasons. Utd success recently has been built of the back of Rooney.
U rate benzema and higuan! What have they won with madrid? How many champions league finals have this “best strikers” played in? If any of them was to come to united would the put rooney on the bench? How many strikers are there in the world,why wuold perez just want rooney? And why for 50 million? He may not be as good as messi or ronaldo but he is much better than benzema and higuan.
ROONEY IS A GENIUS AND WILL SCORE AS MANY GOALS AS MESSI IF HE IS IN BARCA’S TEAM NOT WITHSTANDING I STILL BELIEVE THE ONLY PLAYER BETTER THAN HIM MESSI COS HE IS PHENOMENON
Aussiehopper, your absolutely right about Charlton and to be honest i never really give much thought about personality and demeanour off the pitch when assessing these players as nowadays 90% of these guys only care about money. To me when people suggest messi is only about football, then tend to forget that he is the 2nd highest paid footballer in the world, yes he does not have the same level of arrogance as Ronaldo and he appears loyal to Barce, however if he had been brought through the ranks say at Villareal would he have shown them the same loyalty???
Also i couldnt agree more with you on your assessment of Stanley Matthews,now i never saw him play but you cant compare players today against those from 20 years ago and onwards, everything from coaching,equipment, training, facilities etc has changed to such a large extent and this is why i never get sucked into the nonsense of greatest player ever and greatest team ever. This question raises its head in every sport and has the same answer for everyone as well.
Redevil, i also get so sick of hearing this nonsense about Scholes, yes he was easily one of our best players for god knows how long, but he certainly wasnt one of those for the last 3 years and look what we’ve achieved in the those years. This Utd team is short one or two players from being a really quality side, and i reckon Ferguson did try and sign Sneijder or an equivalent but just fell short. I dont believe he expected Cleverly to become this important so soon
Simon, Very very true.
Rooney is nowhere near world class.Look at the Wolves match his touch was shocking his attitude was worse yet the tabloids were again raving that he was back to his best??Utd have currently 32 assists for goals in premiership Rooney only has 2 assists that is not good.Rooney could not even get on the PFA team last season,Berbatov did.
Hi Guys, finally a discussion where everyone keeps their cool with no vicious remarks. If Messi had to lay in a team where he needed to focus on the jobs of other players, he would struggle. Rooneys strentgh is his personality on the pitch, his work rate and ethic. Few players match him in that area. I believe that if Rooney were to play for a team like Barca or Real, where he would be able to focus only on his game and let the others do the dirty work, he would shine, but also I think that Rooney is suited to te Premier league style of play and maybe would not fit the Spanish style. To me Ronaldo whilst scoring many goals against the lesser teams has failed time and again in the Primera liga against Barca, not just goals but performance. Why? Its because his style is suited to the premier league. Would Messi week in and week out come up with the goods in the premier League.. Who knows?