Now it has been confirmed that Wayne Rooney wants to leave the club we can deal with the fallout and attempt to prepare for life without him but realistically how will we?
I stress there is no man bigger than Manchester United but losing Rooney will be a massive blow and largely due to the timing of this revelation, maybe worse than any of us could have expected.
Looking at our team now it isn’t the strongest it has ever been. Bearing in mind we lost Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo last summer to only finish one point off the boil was pretty good as not many clubs could lose two massive players like that and still compete as well as we did.
Largely our strong-ish showing last season was down to Wayne Rooney stepping up to the plate and picking up the slack scoring 34 goals so to hear he wants to leave is disappointing as to lose a player capable of such things will hurt any side. But it gets worse.
Realistically we have to face up to the prospect that Rooney may not be the only departure this term as eldermen like Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Edwin van der Sar may also call time on their United careers in the near future too. I had touched on how damaging it could be too lose Neville, Giggs and Scholes at once but at the time I didn’t factor in Edwin or Rooney. just typing and reading it to myself sounds terrible s imagine how it pans out on field?
The timing of this couldn’t have been worse and if United replace Rooney the way we ‘replaced’ Ronaldo and Tevez then I forsee problems. In Rooney’s absence this term (even when he is playing it’s like he’s not there) we have done OK with both Berbatov and now Hernandez chipping in but that is only in the short term can we rely on our current strike force despite it’s size to maintain a strong enough threat to carry us to titles and through Europe?
Just some food for thought.
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How United respond to this situation is immensely vital. If United do not replace Rooney adequately, it could have bad repercussions. Losing Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney in such a short space of time will have a demoralizing effect on the rest of the team.
To add to that problem, there is a lack of world-class players who are actually realistic options, as many of them have just recently moved to a new club or signed a new contract, so it will be very interesting to see how Fergie copes.
Personally I want to see as many youngsters play as possible, but you get the feeling we need a big signing to lift spirits.
Agree with Red Knight and RFR. Im down with the youth and all, but could you spare us the next Bebe please and just sign a true current professional? Still cant get over not going in an getting Ozil or VandeVaart – would have been useful and on top of that send a message that the owners are not destroying the club, something very necessary at this moment. ALSO – props again to Ronaldo, who exited the club in a fine fashion. He got slagged alot, mostly because he wasn’t British I feel, but its the British guy who is giving the club a real screw job. I guess he is good at screwing i suppose, just ask the prostitutes! ok enough…
I was thinking the exact same thing. However, you have to give Fergie a little more. If you are one of those fans who believes that 80 million we received from selling Ronnie then.. I’d have to disagree with you. You must remember prior to Ronaldo and Tevez leaving we were offering around 24/5 Million for Tevez. He didn’t take us up on that offer. So we were still 25 odd million up plus whatever we had at the time for the summer (which I’d ‘speculate’ around the region of 40 million). Ronaldo gets sold, we get 80 million plus the 25 we was willing to table that a Guaranteed 105 million in the bank. Lets say your Fergie, now your looking at your team. The obvious elephant in the room (outside of Tevez and Ronaldo) would be your ageing players. Whom are needless to say should be first in line to be replaced. So now you have 105 million a lighter wage bill a inflated market and team that just needs minor adjustments. If Fergie tried to replace there and then he would have bought 2 world class players with the 105 million. So he bought Valencia who has been tremendous and eased the pain of Ronaldo. To be honest I don’t think without Valencia Rooney would have never got to 34 goals! Fergie is looking in hindsight he know he can still squeeze a few more years out of the old guards by then he probably thought the market would have settled a bit. That part of the story as not been told yet but I do see a 2005 style shake up. 1 last dance before the curtain call for Fergie and I don’t think he will be going out quietly.
For now I’d say bring young Cleverly and Welbeck – I’ll support him to the end but Macheda needs to fix up. He should be using this time to steak his claim if he is so good now would be his big chance. I’d like to see Corry convert his full senior international caps into Manchester United game time! Lets not get started on Raphael.
Honourable mentions: Nani, Fletcher, Evra and ever so recently Berbatov (Ignoring that sitter on Saturday)
Manchester United will be Kings of the world once more – Soon coming!
80 Million vanished as if by magic *
105 Million on 2 players = RIP OFF! **
Tput it bluntly YER FUCKED
These are unsettling times, but people shouldn’t fear too much. Also, our current problem is not goal scoring and it’s defensive lapses that have lost us a minumum of 8 points.
We need 1-2 proven additions to our team, but I don’t even think it has to be a forward. It’s really our mid-field spine which is mostly in question and should be remedied if some of our players in question can’t step up.
Good Points by Fool in Love. More reasonable thoughts than i may have had before; but your star player wanting out tends to bring out poor reactions! though, Not sold on Welbeck any more than i am macheda yet though. Am excited for cleverley, and some of the younger midfielders on the way. WHO knows – maybe Nani continues to improve, and becomes Ronaldo-esque. So many similarities – Ronnie was an inconistent passer of the ball for a few years, then it all came together.. And while I’m ranting — should we be getting worried about Patrice? I love him every year,and the way he has been since taking over from Heinze, but he doesnt seem to be there yet defensively this season..
I agree with the article. I think we are sufficient in the striking department with Hernandez and Macheda coming through. One more signing should be sufficient. Its the midfield I am more worried about. Apart from Cleverly, I don’t see anyone coming through in the midfield department.
Bring in andres Guardado and we will see another valencia-rooney combination real real quick with Javier Hernandez.
Bring in Sneijder, Andres gurdado, and chiellini, and 2 youngsters like Hernandez Fergie knows hes pick!!!. unstoppable!!!!!!
rooney is a key but not playing the way he is playing
ill rather have a player that sweats the jersey then someone that is playing in the field walking around and with a serious face that he shows lack of interest
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