When Sir Alex Ferguson feels that a player has outlived his usefulness to Manchester United, he lets go. He did it with Eric Cantona and Roy Keane — and Wayne Rooney’s time will come, maybe sooner than anyone envisaged when the England forward signed his seriously improved new contract two years ago.
The rebellion that led to its negotiation would not have pleased Ferguson, even though the wily Scot won the ensuing public-relations battle, forced an apology from Rooney — “the manager is a genius” — and soon had his team leader back in harness, last season helping to drag a developing side to the verge of the title.
Meanwhile Danny Welbeck flourished, becoming Rooney’s most effective partner in eight years at Old Trafford. With Javier Hernandez, Kiko Macheda and Dimitar Berbatov in the wings, you might have thought the last thing United needed was a striker. Yet they spent £24million on Robin van Persie, even though his shelf life is limited. What does this tell us?
The assumption that Ferguson believes Van Persie can be added to the existing attack, his goals edging United ahead of Manchester City, seems a little facile; if managers could do this with impunity to their midfields, they’d all be doing it. So something has to give and I shouldn’t bet my life against it being Rooney eventually.
He joined United when on an apparent path to greatness and, although his performances have generally been more than acceptable to both club and country, two World Cups and a European Championship have indicated that he falls below the class of contemporaries such as the Barcelona midfielders Xavi and Andres Iniesta, let alone Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
And is he getting any better? You only need to look at the physique of Van Persie to see a possible reason why the Dutchman has kept improving. Despite his age, he’s like a pipe-cleaner with muscle. And Rooney? In more ways than one, he needs to sharpen up.
