England striker Wayne Rooney has always had the world at his feet ever since he scored that famous match winner against Arsenal for Everton at the tender age of 16.
Since then he has gone from strength to strength and last season had his best goalscoring campaign of his career.
Nightmare
Just a few months later and his world seems to have collapsed around him.
Events in his personal life mean he could lose his very loyal wife Coleen. And events off the pitch have led to his manager Sir Alex Ferguson to leave him out of the team.
Ferguson had told the media that Rooney was left out of the team because he was injured but Rooney came out and denied these claims saying he was fit and ready to play. His manager obviously thought he wasn’t mentally fit to start the games.
Dangerous
Rooney did a very dangerous thing by contradicting the United boss in the press. The Scot is like the godfather at Old Trafford. His word is law at United and anybody who dares to question him usually ends up heading through the Old Trafford exit door.
The most famous cases of people crossing Ferguson are probably Paul Ince and David Beckham. Both players were soon out the door after clashes with the Scot. Ferguson also wasn’t scared to get rid of Jaap Stam and Ruud Van Nistelrooy when they were key players because they crossed him. When he is in a battle with a player he tends to win out.
Ferguson’s attitude is that no player is bigger than the club and no player is irreplaceable. That is true but Rooney on his day is one Europe’s top players. Unfortunately for United he hasn’t had many of those days in recent months.
Form
Rooney’s form since the allegations of his personal life came out has been awful. The speculation obviously hasn’t helped his form. Anybody would be distracted by being in every newspaper and everybody speculating about your personal affairs (literally in some cases).
He needs to sort his off the field issues out before he will get back to his best form. Let’s face it nobody can give their full attention to their job if they are facing personal problems.
Speculation
There is now speculation that the 24 year-old could be on the move. It really wouldn’t surprise me if he did move on after all that’s gone on. However it would need to be abroad if he was to avoid the British media.
I believe there is only two clubs on the continent who could afford Rooney and they are both in La Liga. Barcelona and Real Madrid are two of the biggest clubs in the world. They are also able to spend big when they want a particular player.
I just don’t see Wayne Rooney moving to Spain. He would struggle to learn the language and being very close to his family would miss them. There are other options if he did leave United. Like a switch to bitter-rivals Manchester City.
Again I just can’t see him signing for City. I don’t think he would want to be hated by United fans as well as a minority of Everton fans. Rooney is a very passionate guy and he seems to love playing for United. Then again Everton fans thought he loved playing for them. In football you never know what is going to happen.
Destination
I have to admit if Rooney did leave United I wouldn’t like to guest where he would end up. Wherever he ends up I’m sure he would eventually rediscover his form and get back to his best when he sorts his personal problems out.
Will Wayne Rooney leave Manchester United?
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