Is this the end? Why Wayne Rooney may have played his last game for Manchester United
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Updated 22/02/2017 at 12:12 GMT
If it was the end, it was desperately underwhelming. A substitute appearance in a 0-0 home draw at the start of February. No big send off, no mosaic on the Stretford End, no tributes in the matchday programme and no parade around the pitch with the whole clan in tow.
Manchester United's Wayne Rooney
Image credit: Reuters
Wayne Rooney’s most recent appearance in a Manchester United shirt was, though, sadly typical of a season in which the ageing captain - and thanks to a stunning free-kick against Stoke on January 21, now the club’s all-time record goalscorer - has been increasingly marginalised by manager Jose Mourinho.
If reports are to be believed on Wednesday morning, that nondescript draw against Hull may even have been Rooney’s last appearance in a United shirt, as bizarre as it sounds to hear it. With offers from China on the table and their transfer deadline fast approaching, Sunday’s League Cup final could be a pivotal moment in determining the striker’s future.
But could his Old Trafford career really be over so abruptly, after 13 years, 549 games and 250 goals?
What are the papers saying?
The morning after one of the best games in recent memory, with Manchester City beating Monaco 5-3, the back pages of the Mirror and the Sun both devote space to huge news about Rooney’s future. According to both the tabloids, Rooney could be leaving United next week to become the world’s best paid player in China, on a prospective wage of between £750,000 and £1 million per week, depending on which report you choose to believe.
The Mirror says Rooney’s United career is “effectively over” and that the club have given him the “green light” to leave despite there being three months of the season remaining, and United boss Mourinho recently complaining about the amount of fixtures he has to contend with as the club challenge for the Europa League, League Cup and FA Cup on top of their league commitments.
Why the big rush?
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Manchester United's Wayne Rooney reacts
Image credit: Reuters
It would seem counter-productive to sell a prominent player at this point in the season rather than waiting until the summer, when reinforcements can arrive, but circumstances may force United’s hand: the Chinese transfer window closes on Tuesday and any deal for Rooney would have to be completed by then.
There are suggestions that Chinese clubs, including Beijing Guoan and Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao, are prepared to pay £30m, an enticing fee for a 31-year-old substitute on massive wages who has scored only five goals this season. It will be sorely tempting for United to cash in now, if Rooney is willing to go to China.
Tianjin Quanjian have ruled themselves out of the race though, according to manager Fabio Cannavaro:
Would Rooney want to leave United now?
That is a complete unknown. Rooney has young children in England and has never seemed particularly keen on a move abroad, but then the level of wages being reported would make anyone think twice.
The Telegraph carries a report which is illuminating on this issue. James Ducker and Luke Edwards report that Rooney’s decision could well hinge on Sunday’s League Cup final.
The striker did not travel for Wednesday night’s match against St Etienne due to an injury which has prevented him from training properly this week, although he could be back in contention for the Wembley showdown with Southampton. If he does not make Mourinho’s squad, though, the paper suggests that could be the tipping point for the England skipper. The Telegraph reports:
Rooney could decide that his interests would be best served by moving to China now, on wages of more than £600,000 a week, as opposed to the summer, if he fails to make Mourinho’s 18-man squad, which would offer the clearest indication yet that he does not figure prominently in the manager’s plans… the player, who has 16 months left on his existing £300,000-a-week contract at Old Trafford, is reluctant to remain a bit-part player after being gradually phased out by Mourinho.
So Rooney’s career in England could effectively be over when the team sheets are published on Sunday, an hour before kick-off.
What have United said on the matter?
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Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho during the press conference
Image credit: Reuters
Mourinho remains adamant that he has no desire to force Rooney out of the club – politically he can hardly send out another message about such an influential figure at Old Trafford. But speaking ahead of the St Etienne match he made clear that the decision is very much in Rooney’s hands, and that he could not guarantee his captain would be staying at the club.
You have to ask him. I can't guarantee that, how can I guarantee he will be here next season? If he one day leaves the club it’s not because I want him to leave. I would never push or try to push a legend out of this club to another destiny, so you have to ask him if he sees himself leaving. I don’t want him to leave.
Would United regret selling him at this point in the season?
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Manchester United's Wayne Rooney during training
Image credit: Reuters
It is true that if United make the finals of the FA Cup and Europa League they will still have 23 matches to negotiate this season, whereas, for example, their rivals for a top-six spot Liverpool will only have their 13 league games. In theory, Mourinho needs all the help he can get from every last vestige of his squad.
And yet the United boss has been very canny in manoeuvring Rooney out of the way as the season has progressed. Mourinho resisted some calls to bench his captain immediately and allowed him enough space to make his own case to be taken out of the starting XI, culminating in a horrendous performance against Watford.
With Henrikh Mkhitaryan growing into his playmaker’s role magnificently, Zlatan Ibrahimovic defying his age to plunder goal after goal in attack and a supporting cast including Juan Mata, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford buzzing about, there is little room for Rooney to operate, even in midfield, where Paul Pogba grows more and more assured.
As Mourinho said on Tuesday:
When you don’t have a player, you have others... The team is in a good moment. In the past four months, we have lost one game and it was a game we could afford to lose as it was a two-legged semi-final. The team is in a good moment and Wayne Rooney is injured.
So is this the end of Rooney in a United shirt?
Clearly, Rooney would be no big loss to Mourinho, and given the tone of today’s reports it seems the club have little interest in persuading him to stay either. Things may become clearer at Wembley on Sunday, but at this stage it is not out of the question that one of the great careers in English football has already come to an end without anyone noticing.
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