Poll: Is Wayne Rooney past it and should he be sold?

Is Rooney past it?

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Raees

Pythagoras in Boots
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Simple question, in my opinion a resounding yes for a number of reasons:-

1) served his use this season but going forwards he is neither world class in midfield or as a number 9.. he might be able to rack up decent goal-scoring stats but ..

Up front he has a poor first touch, can't stretch the opposition, can barely run at anyone, is not very direct and doesn't run into the channels effectively like he used to (i.e. drift left and beat men on the wing). He blunts our attack.

In midfield, he lacks dynamism and apart from his favoured 40 yard pass to Valencia, he doesn't offer enough vision and penetration these days through the middle. He slows down our game immeasurably and put your hand up if you think Rooney as an attacking mid would run the game in a Champions league v Barcelona.. is this guy good enough to feature in such a position and not be a liability against a top top side going forwards.

2) he does not like being on the bench.. he sulks. A player like him is a problem, in his head he is still very much of the belief that he is the player of old and deserves to be starting week in week out. This holds back the development of other players and inhibits progress of the side as a whole because he plays in pivotal positions.. where he is meant to be the fulcrum of the attack. For club and country we have seen him refuse to be removed from the main position in attack to the detriment of the team as a whole... at united we had no alternative as the other options were worse than Rooney.. past this summer where we will get in a new striker, he will be an issue.

Can you imagine once we have a strong side and LVG comes to the conclusion that Rooney is not worthy of a place in his side, the media will whip up a storm for the most part of the season and if we do finally get rid of him it will be for a diminished price.

3) Fergie thought he was past it. This for me said it all, Fergie was the master at reading when someone needed to go. He put up with Rooney whilst he thought the lad was still an asset but in the background he was working to shift Rooney out.. bringing in RVP and that famous Welbeck selection against Real Madrid. If he had stayed on, Rooney would no longer be here and it was nothing personal, purely on ability he'd be out.

4) his wages.
 
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No he shouldn't be sold, Falcao and RVP were a lot worse, at least Rooney has been useful this season
 
Still good but we should be past building a team around him. We need another top class striker this Summer. Rooney is still good enough but he isn't World Class anymore.
 
My head says yes, my heart says no :(

His touch and his loss of pace is concerning tbh, he's not world class anymore and if we want to reach the pinnacle of European Football again, we'll need a better number 9.
 
Probably yeah. There are a lot of strikers I'd take over him.

Not gonna be sold any time soon though; who can afford his wages? Damn Moyes giving him that ridiculous contract.
 
He's past it. Probably not sold though. But not a guaranteed starter.

Also he's too highly paid.
 
Majorly in decline. Nobody else would be silly enough to pay him what we do so we're stuck with him till he's 34 unfortunately.
 
He's still a good player, but not someone who will win you games on his own anymore. I can't see him replicating what he did for us away to West Ham in 2011. That magical hat-trick that helped win us the league. He's just not got that hunger anymore.
 
The fact he's captain, on huge wages and seemingly undroppable is the only problem we have with him.

If we play 4-3-3, there's one striker position for him and I'm not convinced that he would score 25 goals in a season now despite what people say about him scoring X goals in Y games when only playing Z of them as a striker and the rest in midfield.

He goes through dips in form every single season (as a lot of players do, it's the undroppable bit that is the problem) and we need to be able to rotate when that happens.

If we did get another top striker in who can score 25 goals or more in a season, it would see him moved back into midfield and that's a huge problem.

With that said though he remains one of out best players over the course of a season year in year out and we'd be daft to get rid of him.


Solution: Sign fantastic competition for his spots, don't make him sodding undroppable and either he has to up his game or he's on the side lines.
 
Pexbo said:
The fact he's captain, on huge wages and seemingly undroppable is the only problem we have with him.

If we play 4-3-3, there's one striker position for him and I'm not convinced that he would score 25 goals in a season now despite what people say about him scoring X goals in Y games when only playing Z of them as a striker and the rest in midfield.

He goes through dips in form every single season (as a lot of players do, it's the undroppable bit that is the problem) and we need to be able to rotate when that happens.

If we did get another top striker in who can score 25 goals or more in a season, it would see him moved back into midfield and that's a huge problem.

With that said though he remains one of out best players over the course of a season year in year out and we'd be daft to get rid of him.


Solution: Sign fantastic competition for his spots, don't make him sodding undroppable and either he has to up his game or he's on the side lines.
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Pretty much agree with this, and tbh I think that is exactly what will happen.
 
Pexbo said:
Solution: Sign fantastic competition for his spots, don't make him sodding undroppable and either he has to up his game or he's on the side lines.
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This is how a top club should operate. When he plays great he starts when he controls the ball like a donkey with trees for legs then he needs to sit on the bench.
 
Rooney is no longer good enough to be our lone striker given that this season we're expected to mount a serious assault on the premiership and champions league.

I say sell him. If we don't sell him and he drops to the bench in favour of a world class signing to replace him, he will be a disruptive whining distraction (both he and his agent).
 
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I have said he is past it but has his uses(sounds like a woman who has got fed up of her husband), he is playing like someone who has been playing since he was 16 and is therefore ageing prematurely. Most players would be in their prime now, he has gone past that. He should be on the bench, but the idiotic decision of giving him the captaincy means he will play, if it is good for the team or not.
 
I'd bench him and if he sulks, sell him. I doubt he'll sulk anymore though, even he's not that foolish to think he's still great?
 
Would be silly to sell him at this stage. Falcao is gone, and RVP is more past it than Rooney is and considering his options. That only leaves James Wilson.

With a RB, DM, CB and possibly GK already needed this summer, to replace our whole attack would be too much disruption. He's also our captain and one of the only players we have offering any leadership qualities.

I'd keep him upfront next season, no dicking about in midfield, but we should be probably gradually phasing him out in the next couple of years.
 
And no I wouldn't sell him. His experience coupled with his calmness in front of goal will be very useful for us in the future. What we need to do is compensate for his weaknesses with another striker and give him competition and hopefully someone who will take over eventually.
 
No chance we sell him. He is on astronomical wages and he would be extremely hard to shift.
 
Gerrard had a good penultimate season - yes, almost a full good season. I honestly don't think we'd get that out of Rooney.
 
He's not as good as he used to be and is no longer good enough either as a striker or in midfieled. I'd much rather we built a team around a good, young striker with pace and power and continue with the 4-3-3 instead of putting Rooney in midfield ahead of better players.
 
Please stop with the Eboue option.
 
Yes, sell him now and rebuild if we continue with 4-3-3 and a proven goalscoring replacement can be found. Which we should be looking for. Dream scenario is Ronaldo to return but Benzema for example would be sufficient. I would keep him if he accepts reduced contract, playing time and relinquishes the captaincy however. His versatility would remain an asset and when he is in form, he's got a knack of finding goals for that run of games which is a good quality.

Quite simply though, overall he's not consistent enough to start as a 9 or a 10, and doesn't seem to have the sufficient capability to fully transition into an 8 as many expected, for a Premier League and Champions League title challenging team. I picked 4 strikers to compare him against in the "striker in the summer" thread in transfer forum section. He's not better than any of these and simply put, that's the standard United should be aiming for - having the best or making the best. He isn't the best and in my opinion, has peaked with his 2 34 goal seasons.

Rooney will be our top scorer ever through a combination of longevity and a so far career 0.44 goal to game ratio. He's hit 20 4 times but really in modern football only the 34 goals he hit twice are to standard for a top club in European football these days. The last of which was 2011/12. In the last 3 years Rooney's GTGR is 0.43.

Aguero has hit over 27 5 times since he moved to Europe. Twice over 30 at City with 28 in 13/14 too. An overall GTGR ratio of 0.51 with a GTGR of 0.68 in the Prem for the last 3 years. 0.25 better than Rooney.

Suarez has hit over 30 3 times since his move to Europe. 2 of which were at Liverpool, 1 was 49 at Ajax. Overall GTGR of 0.61. Last 3 seasons GTGR of 0.69. 0.26 better than Rooney.

Lewandowski has hit 30 twice in last 4 years with the other 2 seasons at 28 and 25. Overall GTGR at 0.54 with last 3 years at 0.61. 0.18 better than Rooney.

Benzema has hit 30 twice, once at Lyon and once at Madrid, in the last 8 seasons but only once dropped under 20 goals in that period too. And at Madrid he's a sub servant of Ronaldo too. Overall GTGR of 0.47 while his last 3 seasons are 0.45 GTGR. The closest rival to Rooney but more consistent.
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He has great spurts of form but even in those games has large spells of being dire. Outside of that form, he can be detrimentally bad to the teams play at times - his reluctance at key moments to run in behind defenders for example or slowing the play up by coming out of position and sending Hollywood balls sideways.

Transfer requests aside, he's been a very good servant to United in terms of end product but if we are serious about pushing forward again, let's be honest, Fergie was right to marginalise him when he did and so far we have been wrong to give him that new contract.
 
Cassidy said:
No he shouldn't be sold, Falcao and RVP were a lot worse, at least Rooney has been useful this season
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I'm a fan of Rooney but he's been bang average this year. His performance towards the end of the season have been really underwhelming in the centre forward position apart from Spurs and he's not a midfielder. Last season with the same number of minutes played he managed 19 goals and 22 assists even with Moyes' tumescent football.
 
Sylar said:
Fergie saw this two years ago tbh.
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This. Ferguson saw Rooney was in decline and wanted to show him the door.

I wouldn't sell him though, he can still win matches for us, just not as often.
 
he no longer scores screamers from outside the box. he's lost any pace he had when he was in his pomp. still good but not for the wages he is on. couldn't sell him on that package.
 
amolbhatia100 said:
This is how a top club should operate. When he plays great he starts when he controls the ball like a donkey with trees for legs then he needs to sit on the bench.
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I'd worry about him causing disruption if dropped. Didn't Sir Alex say about him not giving him peace if he benched him and was constantly chirping in his ear? We know how his representatives operate, I'd worry about constant leaks to the press and disruption if he was benched. He did it when Moyes said RVP was first choice, he had no problem announcing he wanted to leave right before a CL game. I'm not sure he'd react well if he was benched for more than a game or two in a row.
 
He's past it.

But no way the club would sell him. He's on the brink of breaking records and he will retire with us, probably at detriment to the team unfortunately. I would rather have a top quality goalscorer leading the line, and in my opinion rooney isnt as effective as other natural midfielders in the club playing in midfield. Only aay it would work is if we switched to two strikers upfront but I can't see it happening.

Only other soloution is to play him as a RF of an attacking 3.
 
I think Wayne Rooney will be like John Terry someone who people can not wait to put the nail in the coffin of their career but, someone who keeps chugging along. I remember people started to say John Terry was on the decline when he was like 26 yet he still playing at a high level nearing 35. With Rooney people started talking about his decline when he was like 22. If we do not eff around in put him in midfield next season I think Wayne Rooney will deliver the goods.
 
No he shouldn't be sold, nor will he. He's on contract for a high wage and will almost certainly see it out since no other club is going to come in and pay 300k/wk for a 30 year old striker.
 
Sylar said:
Fergie saw this two years ago tbh.
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Yup, Fergie was great. Should have sold him then tbh, we would have got 30M+ for him as well.

I mean, let's be honest with ourselves, he's hardly been outstanding for us in the last 2 seasons.
 
If you only had today's game to go on and the last few games of this season you'd have to say yes, he looks complete shite, but we've seen this kind of thing from Rooney before and he has turned it around before. I would give him the benefit of the doubt again and expect him to come back next season looking sharper.

I do think he's no longer particularly well suited to play as lone striker. I have some sympathy for him because he's been moved around the pitch for his entire career, usually playing several different roles per season.

Keep him but bring a top class, specialist number 9. Let Rooney compete for his position with everyone else.
 
After a lame duck game where Wilshere and Smalling only played well and Jones did alright you bang this thread up. Knee Jerk.

Sylar said:
Fergie saw this two years ago tbh.
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If this had happened we'd of had injury prone and didn't give a shit under Moyes RvP and Kagawa as our goal scorers, companied by Hernandez and Welbeck. We'd of been worse than 7th.

If people want Rooney gone then say a name that is actually achievable to replace him, rather than just saying get rid easily.
 
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Mciahel Goodman said:
This. Ferguson saw Rooney was in decline and wanted to show him the door.

I wouldn't sell him though, he can still win matches for us, just not as often.
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Ferguson also bought bebe and didn't give pogba a chance so not sure how relevant that is.
 
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