or now, Wayne Rooney's enjoying life at the core of a rebuilding Manchester United side. But will he be there to see it through?
While Wayne Rooney returned to Premier League action last month against Spurs, nobody should be convinced that he has a bright future at Manchester United. When you look at Alex Ferguson and Manchester United's history, there are plenty of reasons for Rooney to worry that he'll be shipped out -- and few to indicate that he's in any way in charge of his own future.
Rooney had his one shot to decide his destiny. In October 2010, the striker announced that he wanted to leave Manchester United because of their lack of ambition. His reasons for wanting to leave -- Manchester United was (and is) in slow economic decay, and its squad is unconvincing in Europe and much of the league campaign -- were utterly correct; the way he made his play marked his card. He took his statement public and pitched it aggressively, not alone in Sir Alex Ferguson's office.
Yet Ferguson pulled one of his masterstrokes, using a mixture of reason, guilt and money to convince Rooney to sign a (financially) enormously rewarding contract. He didn't do this because of any huge father-son bond between the two -- compare the lingering affection between Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and Ferguson to his current relationship with the still-present Rooney -- but because he needed him for the team. Ferguson could have won the league without almost any other player, but Rooney’s goals in 2010-11 and 2011-12 were the crucial reason for Manchester United's continued challenge for titles.
Now, though, things have changed. With Rooney's form and fitness (at least before the injury against Fulham) at their worst for years, he's not quite as indispensable, and there's a legitimate argument to be made that Ferguson has made Rooney obsolete in a couple of moves. With Shinji Kagawa there's now a more mobile creative forward than Rooney, a player with speed, experience and guile. By adding Robin van Persie there's now a leaner, more professional focal point to the attack. Nobody else in the Premier League can be relied upon -- and has proof in his goal-scoring records in the last two years -- as safely to score just as many goals as Rooney has. Yet if both he and van Persie start, there's not necessarily any irresistible argument for him to stay in the first team.
Rooney had his one shot to decide his destiny. In October 2010, the striker announced that he wanted to leave Manchester United because of their lack of ambition. His reasons for wanting to leave -- Manchester United was (and is) in slow economic decay, and its squad is unconvincing in Europe and much of the league campaign -- were utterly correct; the way he made his play marked his card. He took his statement public and pitched it aggressively, not alone in Sir Alex Ferguson's office.
Yet Ferguson pulled one of his masterstrokes, using a mixture of reason, guilt and money to convince Rooney to sign a (financially) enormously rewarding contract. He didn't do this because of any huge father-son bond between the two -- compare the lingering affection between Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and Ferguson to his current relationship with the still-present Rooney -- but because he needed him for the team. Ferguson could have won the league without almost any other player, but Rooney’s goals in 2010-11 and 2011-12 were the crucial reason for Manchester United's continued challenge for titles.
Now, though, things have changed. With Rooney's form and fitness (at least before the injury against Fulham) at their worst for years, he's not quite as indispensable, and there's a legitimate argument to be made that Ferguson has made Rooney obsolete in a couple of moves. With Shinji Kagawa there's now a more mobile creative forward than Rooney, a player with speed, experience and guile. By adding Robin van Persie there's now a leaner, more professional focal point to the attack. Nobody else in the Premier League can be relied upon -- and has proof in his goal-scoring records in the last two years -- as safely to score just as many goals as Rooney has. Yet if both he and van Persie start, there's not necessarily any irresistible argument for him to stay in the first team.
Paul Thomas/Getty ImagesShinji Kagawa is still finding his feet at Man United, though he could easily replace Rooney in that CAM/CF role in the not-so-distant future.
Ferguson has history for this. When Ruud van Nistelrooy started acting up and the team became staid, Ferguson ensured that the team evolved and left van Nistelrooy behind. Louis Saha wasn’t even close to his predecessor's level, but with Rooney and Ronaldo they provided the pace and inventiveness to kick-start Ferguson's last great team, the one that would win the title back from Jose Mourinho and ultimately claim the Champions League in 2008.
Ronaldo is another example, not of Ferguson forcing out a player -- far from it -- but of making preparations for a player's exit well ahead of time. When Ferguson and Ronaldo agreed there would be one last season, Ronaldo was shunted back to the right wing spot. Yes, there were times he played centrally and times he moved into that position when desperation demanded it, but just as often United played 4-4-2, with Rooney given the chance to develop into a centre forward. It worked. Instead of replacing a genius, they replaced a right winger with Antonio Valencia, and his partnership with Rooney was sufficient to win titles.
The clues aren't just in tactics or transfer activity, either; there was another hint in Dimitar Berbatov's exit this summer. His agent said that Manchester United was moving to a more fluid and agile style. Makes sense to sell Berbatov, of course, as Berbatov is tantric above all else. Yet this should have been a warning sign for Rooney. In his new book, he admits returning to training overweight. With Ferguson clearly planning an overhaul in tempo, to come back fat is stupid, provocative or both. Now that Danny Welbeck, Nani, Ashley Young, Javier Hernandez, Tom Cleverley and Kagawa are around, Rooney's dodgy engine is ever more apparent, even without the spare tire. His midfield experiment this year has worked, to an extent, but it's only been two matches.
Furthermore, it's not just about the team as it behaves on the pitch. Off it, David Beckham challenged Ferguson's authority and played the publicly bandaged victim after getting booted in the face. Van Nistelrooy started a row with the next hero of the side, Ronaldo. Roy Keane gave an MUTV interview that reeked of would-be manager, not essential player.
There were footballing reasons to get rid of them all. Keane could barely run, and Beckham had been usurped by the superior Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on the right, but the insolence was punished too. Jaap Stam was apparently a yard off the pace -- Ferguson used the cover of an insult to Gary Neville in Stam's autobiography to get rid of him.
John Peters/Getty ImagesRuud van Nistelrooy is just one of the stars to have upset Sir Alex Ferguson and quickly be cast out of Old Trafford. Could Rooney be next?
It might have been a mere excuse, but the point remains: Ferguson doesn't forget. As such, there's no reason to think that Rooney's going to be the one player to get away with it. Rooney has been made to stay, and made to apologize on television for his actions. Now, if he wants, Ferguson can force him out in the summer with the team going on to better things without him.
Even if Rooney is being honest and sincere with his apologies, Ferguson still won't care. Whether it's apocryphal or not, the story that he was able to make Paul Ince cry in his car when he was told the news of his imminent sale shows that he's never been sentimental unless absolutely necessary. Keane, of course, confirmed that football players were treated as "pieces of meat." Ferguson was not exempt from that statement.
Finally, it should not be forgotten that van Persie was the only player on the transfer target list this summer. While Lucas Moura, another forward, left eventually for Paris Saint-Germain, this is reported to have led to a bid for Neymar. Initially ridiculed as outlandish gibberish, there's increasing indication that United made a serious, if last-minute, attempt to bring him in on deadline day.
Kagawa, van Persie and Neymar: if you were Wayne Rooney, would you believe that there was anything in your future except a forced change of club?
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