Even though I’m an Aston Villa fan, the situation involving Wayne Rooney and Manchester United has me disappointed. I find myself in a sense of malaise regarding the current state of football in this country. We have seen one of this countries most prestigious clubs, with one of the most glorious histories of any club on the planet, dragged through the mud. I honestly believe the new owners of Liverpool (NESV) will be good for the club. But the whole ‘takeover’ saga was extremely unpleasant to watch, and it should have never got to the stage where a Dallas District Court Judge was finding himself involved. And now we have the bombshell that the main star of English football, the biggest talent of his generation from these shores, is apparently spitting in the face of the biggest club, and most revered manager, in the country.
English football has numerous structural problems, which many in the higher echelons of the game seem oblivious too. I do not want to get too distracted, as hopefully I will have time to discuss these other issues further in another piece, but the Rooney situation is symbolic of much that ails our beloved game. Man United plumped up nearly £30million to prize Rooney away from his boyhood club, Everton, when he was just 18. Despite my own qualms with Ferguson, there could surely have not been a better manager to nurture this precocious talent, nor a better club for Rooney to display his abilities. Over the years he has delivered, and it became commonplace for Rooney’s name to be mentioned in discussions of who is the worlds best player. In this country we constantly lionise our footballers, often wrongly, but with Rooney this distinction was merited. Even after his poor showing at the world cup and recent dip in form, Rooney is up there with the best, with Messi, Ronaldo, Kaka, Villa and Xavi. So why on earth would he want to leave Man United? Unlike previous high profile departures from Old Trafford, such as Van Nistelrooy, Beckham, Keane or Stam, he is not being pushed out by Fergie, nor is he anywhere near being past his best. The shocking thing for everyone, and judging by his press conference the other day, for Fergie as well, is that Rooney is the one pushing to leave.
As a footballer, you want to win things. You want to play for a club where the fans love you. This is totally true for Rooney at Man United. Despite their current squad being decidedly average in comparison to seasons passed, Man United will be challenging for the League and other domestic competitions this year and for the foreseeable future, and they will always be in the running for the Champions League. Can Rooney’s reasoning for leaving, that the club lack quality and ambition really be true?
Ferguson himself is lionised in this country, particularly by the press, for his transfer strategy and ability to find and develop young talent. But I belive in recent years this reputation has taken a hit. United have lost the likes of Tevez and Ronaldo and replaced them with the likes of Valencia, Bebe and Hernandez. Now Valencia is a good player, and Bebe and Hernandez may turn out to be gems, but the problem is there isn’t the same balance there has been in the past about the squad. Rooney carried the team last year, and the current squad is bereft of top class players. If you bring in young players, you need to have established top players already at the club to play alongside them. This has been United’s strategy in the past. Just this summer, there were significant opportunities to sign top talent. The likes of David Silva, David Villa, Yoann Gourcuff, Mezut Ozil, Rafael Van Der Vaart and James Milner all made high profile moves. Man Utd were never in for any of them, and they should have been. For what they paid for Valencia last season they could have had Ozil. For what the paid for Bebe, Spurs bought Van Der Vaart. So certainly we can question the ambition, but we have to give Ferguson some leeway because of his record, even though his dealings in the transfer market have not always turned out great (Anderson, Veron, etc). Ferguson has also refused to pull the trigger on players who were rumoured to be long time targets, such as Karim Benzema or Steven Defour.
This all leads to the conclusion that United’s transfer strategy has become smaller in scale due to the financial situation at the club, in relation to the Glazer ownership and the debt. The amount of debt at United is hideous. The Glazer family is in a poor financial situation due to the recession. Their First Allied Corporation, which manages their portfolio of shopping malls, is struggling badly. Of the approximately 64 properties they own, by some estimates more than have are ‘at risk’ or seriously underwater on their mortgages, and they have an average vacancy rate of over 11%, which is a relatively high number. Man United is now their biggest asset, and given the opaque nature of the Glazer operations, it is extremely likely that United is already subsidising other parts of their empire.
This begs the question, if Rooney had concerns, why would he publicly draw a line in the sand, now? Why not keep discussions private, and give it a season? The obvious answer is he already has something lined up. If this is the case, its disappointing, and it probably means he’s moving to Man City, as Mourinho has too much respect for Ferguson to act with Rooney before speaking to the United boss.
This brings me to another concern, player power, and agent power. Players in this country, along with their agents, have far to much power. I’m not going to get too much into the issue of agents, but their influence is ridiculous. There are far too many managers in this country who rely on agents to find players rather than a good scouting network (ever wonder why the same players are constantly linked to moves to several different clubs?). And too many footballers in this country think of themselves as above everyone else, they are far too arrogant. They earn obscene amounts of money, and far too many of them are more interested in partying at overhyped clubs in London and cavorting with nobody’s that have more make up on their face than sense in their head, than doing something positive to better blighted parts of their local community. We also have too many average players in the premier league who demand excessive salaries. Exhibit A, Daniel Sturridge, who apparently refused to sign a new contract with Man City because they refused to meet his £50,000 per week salary demands. At the time Sturridge had yet to turn 20 and had done hardly anything for the team. There was no logical reason for his demands. And this is a case that is repeated over and over.For those that don't follow European football, what is commonplace in this country is not so in Spain, Germany or Italy for example. Firstly footballers are not treated in the same way, and in terms of wages, there is a lot more logic to wage systems in other leagues. Real Madrid, for example, have a strict structure for wages of squad players or young players. The Premier League generates more money than any other league in the world, yet much of it is wasted and too many clubs struggle with financial problems, and an unbalanced wages to revenue ratio. Our ownership rules also invite 'sugar daddies', and there is a sense of financial entitlement amongst many fans. How many Liverpool fans would have wanted an Arab or Asian or Russian with deep pockets to throw money at the problem, rather than an American with a good record, who would create stability and run the club in a sustainable manner?
Because of such behaviour, the common assumption now is Rooney is moving for money. He wants at least £200,000 a week, give or take ten grand, as if the £90,000 per week he is already getting is not enough. Wages in the Premier League are out of control, and they need to be reigned in, and yes, Man City are a big part of the problem. The fact that they pay someone as average as Yaya Toure more than Real pay either Ronaldo or Kaka, or Barca pay Messi, is a travesty in itself. But Rooney obviously feels (if reports are to be believed) that money is more important than anything else, and wants to leave. So lets continue by discussing his transfer options, in terms of both ambition and finance.
Real Madrid are interested in him, and it is unlikely they would let him leave Old Trafford without a fight. Real in my opinion have the biggest history of any club in the world, and the vast majority of players would kill for the chance to play in the all white. The chairman Florentino Perez like Rooney, and was interested in him when he first left Everton for Old Trafford. Mourinho said when he came ot Madrid if he could choose one superstar to work with it would be Rooney. But would he fit in to the team? Madrid appear fairly settled, and already have a phenomenal squad, arguably the strongest of any major team in Europe. Perhaps they could use a ‘Number 9’ style of centre forward, but this is more Drogba, Milito or Dzeko, not Rooney. In fact its more Benzema than Rooney (Mourinho and Perez both like the Frenchman, and I believe if given a chance and worked on he can be the world beater we all thought he would turn in to when he was at Lyon). Despite his success for United last season, its not Rooney’s natural game to lead the line, and it doesn’t best utilise his abilities. I’d like to see Madrid buy him just to stop him going to City, but hes not nececarily the best fir for them, and it would be hard on both Higuan and Benzema, who fit in this system better, and the former at least has had an excellent start to the season.
He could fit in to Chelsea’s 4-3-3 system nicely, and personally I think he would make an excellent partner for Drogba. The question is if Chelsea would be willing to spend the money. They have moved away from the massive spending that charachterised Abramovich’s early reign, and Rooney would be a departure from their new strategy. However players like Rooney arnt available every window, and their recent interest in Fernando Torres proves that they will push the boat out for certain players. I wouldn’t expect them to sit idly buy and let Rooney walk into the arms of Mancini at Eastlands.
Barcelona too would love Rooney. Despite including the likes of Messi and now David Villa, Barca are short of out and out centre forwards. The only alternative to Villa is Bojan. Rooney could rotate in their front three, playing out wide or down the middle, and would certainly improve the team. But Barca play a certain way, and despite Rooney’s pace, movement, technique and vision, it is still questionable as to how well he would fit in to their system. It would mean moving Iniesta back in to the midfield alongside Xavi and Busquets or Mashcerano, and it would also mean that it would be unlikely that Barca could move for Fabregas in the summer. The Catalan club are in an extremely poor financial position, and the transfer kitty they do have is being saved to move again for the Arsenal skipper in the summer. Barca have made some big name blunders in the transfer market recently, including the bizarre £20million signing of Ukranian defener Dmytro Chygriniski and the obvious one of Ibrahimovic. Neither are at the club, and huge losses have been taken because of it. Mascherano has also not yet settled since his summer move from Liverpool. They tried something different when they bought Ibrahimovic last summer, and the team never clicked. Would they taken another risk with Rooney?
Inter could be another possibility. Rafa will obviously know Rooney well, and their owner, Massimo Moratti is never shy to spend. He would be an obvious asset, but would have to compete with the likes of Etoo and Diego Milito for a starting place. Serie A is not the draw for big names it used to be, but you can never rule it out.
Last but by no means least, Manchester City. Yes I hate them as much as everyone else – more so since they added Milner to Barry on the list of players taken from Villa Park. They obviously could afford him. Personally, I don’t think they need him. Where on earth would he play? You already have a situation where arguably the biggest young talent in English football, Adam Johnson, is spending too much time on the bench, and for some strange reason the magician that is David Silva cant get in to the team either, all the while Yaya Toure is a cert, in what appears to be an attacking midfield position! They already have Tevez, Adebayour, Santa Cruz and Jo. Yes, the last three can easily be sold as none is in Mancini’s first team plans. But the also have Mario Balotelli, who is currently out injured. Why would Rooney want to go somewhere like City, with no history, no Champions League football, and he not be guaranteed a starting place? Then again, I asked the same question of James Milner.
BeUnequaled Magazine
