Rooney and Man U contract wrangle

[Dunny]

WAYNE ROONEY'S contract demands could end his career at Manchester United.

There is a huge gap between what the striker wants and debt-riddled United can afford. Rooney will have two years left on his current deal in the summer when United have agreed to renegotiate.
Rooney's camp want to leave talks until after the World Cup as the England striker's stock could be even higher with a good tournament behind him.
At the age of 24, this will be the biggest contract of his career and his advisors want a five-year deal worth £140,000 a week - £50,000 a week up on his current deal.
Despite being United's most valuable player, Rooney trails Rio Ferdinand in the pay stakes.
Ferdy is on £110,000 a week, the same as Cristiano Ronaldo before his £80million summer move to Real Madrid.
Rooney is loyal to United and will not want to be seen to be holding the club to ransom.
But the player and his advisors know his value and are aware that Real Madrid and Barcelona will be happy to pay him what he wants.
The Spanish giants are licking their lips at the financial trouble United are in and both clubs will start the bidding at £70m in the summer.
Figures released this week showed United owe £711.5m and investment in players will take a back seat to reducing the debt.

[Karl]

WAYNE ROONEY'S contract demands could end his career at Manchester United.

There is a huge gap between what the striker wants and debt-riddled United can afford. Rooney will have two years left on his current deal in the summer when United have agreed to renegotiate.
Rooney's camp want to leave talks until after the World Cup as the England striker's stock could be even higher with a good tournament behind him.
At the age of 24, this will be the biggest contract of his career and his advisors want a five-year deal worth £140,000 a week - £50,000 a week up on his current deal.
Despite being United's most valuable player, Rooney trails Rio Ferdinand in the pay stakes.
Ferdy is on £110,000 a week, the same as Cristiano Ronaldo before his £80million summer move to Real Madrid.
Rooney is loyal to United and will not want to be seen to be holding the club to ransom.
But the player and his advisors know his value and are aware that Real Madrid and Barcelona will be happy to pay him what he wants.
The Spanish giants are licking their lips at the financial trouble United are in and both clubs will start the bidding at £70m in the summer.
Figures released this week showed United owe £711.5m and investment in players will take a back seat to reducing the debt.

Lazie,
Mine di shark dem cum raid BoyU an lef unnuh cupboard bare? Luk lacka dem a smell blood innah di watah! ...unnuh need money bad-bad!

[Bricktop]

Lazie,
Mine di shark dem cum raid BoyU an lef unnuh cupboard bare? Luk lacka dem a smell blood innah di watah! ...unnuh need money bad-bad!

I been telling dem bout the "real team in Manchester" and see deh now dem pop dung

[Dunny]

There is something strange happening around Wayne Rooney.

It is whispered that Manchester United have asked him to open talks on a new contract, but he is refusing to negotiate until after the World Cup. The club deny this, saying they are perfectly happy to wait until the summer, too. Yet the rumours persist.

All the while, stories linking the player with a major transfer to Spain — Real Madrid or Barcelona, obviously — appear with increasing regularity.

Games of brinkmanship are familiar to all those who follow transfer negotiations. The player wants to stay but his advisers wish to extract the best deal. To do this, they must create a little buzz, a degree of uncertainty around their client. That can be achieved in two telephone calls when a player is as good as Rooney. Plant a story here, offer a little encouragement there.


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Newspaper men like transfer gossip and it is in Madrid’s interests to play along just in case. United’s stance is that Rooney has a contract until 2012 and is very happy. They do not envisage any difficulties when the time comes to talk.

So, one question: what would happen if Sir Alex Ferguson retired? It is a proposition that is real enough for the owners to have considered it in a recent financial prospectus. He is 68 and will not make the mistake of trailing a departure date as he did the last time.

When Ferguson steps aside it will be sudden. Suppose it happened before Rooney made a long-term commitment to Manchester United. Could speculation that is currently regarded as mischievous suddenly take a serious turn?


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This is all hypothetical and, as such, easily dismissed. Yet the underlying truth is that, since the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United are regarded as vulnerable.

This weakness runs deeper than the current financial issues affecting the Glazer family.
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It is a malaise that is traceable to the day United sanctioned the sale of their best player to Real Madrid. At that moment the club suffered a loss of status more damaging than defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League final.

Losing an isolated game, even if it means surrendering the standing of best team in Europe, is a temporary setback. Losing Ronaldo, by contrast, was epochal.
The transfer spoke of a shift in prestige, ambition, potential, capability. It made plain that the power had passed from England to Spain. United had the best player in the world, but could not keep him. They lost him to a club Ferguson referred to as ‘that mob’. He wouldn’t sell them a virus, he had announced six months previously.

And Ronaldo’s transfer informs United’s relationship with Real Madrid still. It is the reason talk of Nemanja Vidic’s exit in the summer will not go away. There is now a club out there that is bigger than United, and that was never previously the case.

United have lost players to Madrid before, but only on their terms. David Beckham’s star had faded at Old Trafford when he moved to the Bernabeu; the same was true of Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Indeed, it is hard to recall a major player United previously lost against the will of Ferguson (even if he regarded Ronaldo as a lost cause by the end and took the money).

Throughout the previous two decades Ferguson resisted the major clubs in Italy when they moved for Ryan Giggs. Players such as Paul Ince and Jaap Stam departed for Serie A only because they had fallen from favour.
This was different. This was something new: United the selling club.

While there are many arguments for Rooney to remain at Old Trafford, it can no longer be among them that Old Trafford is the only place to be. Not when Ronaldo, Kaka, Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta are concentrated at two clubs in Spain. Not when Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Karim Benzema are the support act.

Once a blue: Rooney was vilified by the Everton faithful when he moved to United


Taking nothing away from Rooney’s achievements this season, putting four past Hull City pales by comparison to the personal challenge when Ronaldo and Messi go head to head.

So while it may amount to nothing more than negotiating tactics, somebody is putting it about that Rooney and Spain are a match and that the player is stalling on contract talks.

Losing him is unthinkable, but in the current climate Manchester United should know better than to presume loyalty in all circumstances. Remember, in a previous existence, Rooney the red was always going to be blue