OK - I said Rooney was worth the money - I merely stated that if Cnut thinks that top players go for £20m tops then Rooney at £27m would appear over-priced. Don't let me stop you from trying to be clever without actually reading posts though.
Rooney's transfer was years ago, and he was widely touted by an admittedly sensationalist media as 'The White Pele'! While he has obviously not lived up to such an elaborate billing, i think it's fairly reasonable to suggest he has been widely acknowledged by the vast majority of the footballing world as a world class footballer for quite a number of years.
Carroll cannot reasonably be assumed to be anything more than a promising, young centre forward, and i certainly don't recall anyone singling him out as a potential world beater. Liverpool were simply desperate to land a CF after selling Torres and subsequently paid well over the odds, considering the level of talent he had shown up to that point.
I do agree that most of the top players will now go for extortionate amounts due to the consistently excessive fees paid by Madrid, Chelsea and now City. Maybe the fair play initiative being introduced next season will force some sanity back into the market, if we're lucky!