Lost in the persistent summer debate about Wayne Rooney’s future has been full appreciation of his qualities as a footballer. At his best, there are few born in England more capable than Manchester United’s bullish, rampaging No 10.
Lost in Rooney’s own head, though, would appear to be the real value of playing for his present club.
It is well-worn cliché that players don’t prosper after leaving Old Trafford and it’s not entirely true. Cristiano Ronaldo did, for example. So did David Beckham. Going further back, so did players like Mark Hughes and Gordon Strachan.
Nevertheless, it is hard to understand Rooney’s hard headedness at present. Over the course of the last two seasons, the 27-year-old has not always played his best football yet he has scored more than 50 goals for his club and, just last May, won his fifth Barclays Premier League title, his ninth major trophy.
Free now of the manager with whom he struggled to get along last season – and he is not totally to blame for his problems with Sir Alex Ferguson – Rooney should be sensing new opportunity, feeling a new vigour. Peculiarly, he seems to see only dark shadows and conspiracies.
Looking at Rooney’s current tussle with United, it is difficult to know who is fighting who.
Is it Rooney and United? Rooney and new manager David Moyes? Or United and Rooney’s agent, Paul Stretford?
Certainly, United are determined not to be dictated to by Stretford, the agent who quite remarkably managed to turn a transfer request to his client’s advantage back in October 2010. One minute Rooney was being publicly criticised by Sir Alex Ferguson for his impertinence, the next he was signing a new contract worth £250,000-a-week.
Apart from that, though, Rooney – and whoever it is he listens to – seems to see and hear criticism everywhere these days. Overnight, he has become a very sensitive young man and what he appears to have lost sight of is the most obvious course for his career.
Amid the weight of criticism that came his way in 2010, I had some sympathy with Rooney’s argument. His contract was running down, he felt United were getting left behind in the transfer market and indicated that he didn’t wish to sign an extension.
That was entirely his prerogative, especially after spending the previous three seasons doing all the running and hard work that the much-indulged Ronaldo didn’t want to.
This time, though, his approach to his future is harder to fathom.
If Barcelona or Real Madrid were sending love letters to his house then maybe it would be different. They aren’t, though. At least not yet.
Currently he has attracted interest from Arsenal and Chelsea in the Premier League. Overseas, meanwhile, there has been interest from the French clubs Monaco and PSG, both of whom have recently spent lavishly on alternative attacking players.
If we presume for moment that United would sell to Arsenal or Chelsea – which is highly improbable – it would be interesting to understand Rooney’s rationale when it comes to the attraction of both clubs.
Arsenal haven’t won a trophy for nine seasons and in May celebrated a fourth place finish with remarkable gusto.
Chelsea, meanwhile, continue to employ a scattergun approach to the hiring of coaches and players and, as a result, have won just one league title in seven years.
Certainly Chelsea may offer to pay Rooney more than United will. Any offer the current champions do make in the future will be heavily incentivised and Rooney’ s basic wage would undoubtedly have to be lower.
The Rooney of old, though, used to accept challenges rather than sense only slights.
Moyes’ comments at the weekend that suggested Rooney may have to play second fiddle to Robin van Persie provide a case in point. The United manager’s words were perhaps unfortunately timed but, nevertheless, Van Persie scored 30 club goals last season, 14 more than his team-mate.
As such, he deserves his starting berth on August 17 at Swansea. It is just a little disappointing that Rooney doesn’t seem keen on earning his. He should remember that no sportsman – no matter their previous contributions – has a divine right to anything.
To re-iterate an earlier point, the troubles of last season were not entirely Rooney’s fault. He has indeed spent too long being shunted from position to position – a victim of his own versatility – and Ferguson’s decision to talk publicly about an off-the-cuff, verbal transfer request at the end of the campaign still seems petty to this day. Rooney probably didn’t deserve that.
What he must realise now, though, is that opportunity beckons once again but only if he chooses to see it.
It is easy to talk about the debt Rooney owes United. He no doubt feels he has paid his dues through goals.
More pertinent is the fact that he owes it to himself to make the right choices.
Don’t listen to the money, Wayne. Don’t listen to what other people tell you. Listen to the football.
