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.
For a start, where do you play him? As an out and out striker – well Mourinho only ever plays with one up top, and that one will be Karim Benzema every day of the week when in direct competition with Wayne Rooney. Once called a cat by Mourinho, Benzema is now one of the best strikers in Europe, and bar Higuain, there is no one I would rather see leading my line.
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Prehaps you feel he could play just behind the lone striker? Well again this would neither fit the system Mourinho plays nor allow the prolific Ronaldo to preform at his best. Even now Real are more of a team than ever before, Ronaldo is still the star man, and even during their collective time at Old Trafford, made Rooney look anaemic in comparison – and not just because of the perma tan he sports.
This would also cause an issue for players such as Di Maria or Kaka, who tend to drift in behind Benzema and thread the ball through. Even playing Rooney on the wing would not suffice, with Real being able to boast players who have quicker feet and better ability crossing the ball.
Another major sticking point I have with the affectionately named Wazza is – no not his hair transplant – but his temperament. It seemed to have got better as the player matured, yet he can still lose it during vital moments in games, and should something be going wrong for Rooney off the field, it is so obvious on it, and he then becomes a liability.
In short, if Rooney made the journey to Madrid, the only place I can see him on is the bench, and as much as it pains me to give them a complement, the same would have to be said of Barcelona, who boast as good if not better forwards than Madrid do.
There is no doubting Rooney is a good player, and I am positive the United fans who idolise him will disagree with every comment I have made – the only thing we will agree on is wanting him to remain at Old Trafford, but for entirely different reasons.
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