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

[Wowi]

He's not good enough to build a team around, but with the strikers we have leaving this summer I don't think we should get rid of him as well. He's still a decent player who can contribute, but with the wages he's on I think it's time for United to start planning for a future without him.

 

[CassiusClaymore]

The same man who didn't saw the hole in our midfield or that Tevez should have been kept?

Rooney is still good enough, he still has a very good finishing, he played half of the season in midfield and scored more than half of what we expect from our main striker.

Or that Stam, RVN, Beckham etc were all past it.

Fergie didn't see shit, just got fed up wih his (and his agents) attitude. Which is fair enough but let's not try to dress it up as something different to fit an agenda.

 

[711]

The biggest issue is the captaincy, it forces us to play him regardless.

Makes you wonder what happens when a captain gets injured really. Maybe it just never happens.

 

[JPRouve]

Or that Stam, RVN, Beckham etc were all past it.

Fergie didn't see shit, just got fed up wih his (and his agents) attitude. Which is fair enough but let's not try to dress it up as something different to fit an agenda.

Exactly, I love Ferguson but there is no reason to pretend that he saw something that isn't even happening.

 

[Cassidy]

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.

Ok great, but I don't see the point of selling him when we should be selling RVP

 

[Mciahel Goodman]

Or that Stam, RVN, Beckham etc were all past it.

Fergie didn't see shit, just got fed up wih his (and his agents) attitude. Which is fair enough but let's not try to dress it up as something different to fit an agenda.

He was right on Ruud (needed to leave in order for the team to progress) and Beckham. Stam had a few years left.

 

[markhrad]

He is not going anywhere until he has broken our scoring record. My biggest problem with Rooney is his style of play. For him to be effective it means we have to play a type of game which is not suited to highly skilled modern players. It is why he linked up better with Valencia than he did with Nani. It is why RVP, Falcao and DiMaria seem ineffective. Short skillful passes with neat one-twos and dribbling around the box are not going to happen with Rooney as a main man.
If we continue catering to his style of play then he will always be among the goals but we wont be winning anything and any skillful strikers we bring in will suffer.

 

[Sylar]

The same man who didn't saw the hole in our midfield or that Tevez should have been kept?

Rooney is still good enough, he still has a very good finishing, he played half of the season in midfield and scored more than half of what we expect from our main striker.

I actually meant as a guy at the top and instead started playing him deeper to get him more on the ball as hes not creative enough to be a number 10. In fact he started getting dropped, rightfully so, and nobody complained about it then because it was the right decision.

I honestly think Rooney right now, is only really good within the box (not including penalties). Outside the box we all know how predictable he is.

 

[Amethyst]

Ok great, but I don't see the point of selling him when we should be selling RVP

I picked the top option by the way because most centre forwards that are better than him are unobtainable or would cost a hell of a lot of money that I think should be spent on the defence/midfield first. But let's not pretend that Rooney's been way better than RvP because he hasn't really. He's managed 4 more goals in 50% more playing time with most of them coming from a midfield role anyway. You say we should sell him but how much are we going to get for van Persie realistically? £8-10 million at most I'd have thought whereas Rooney (if we can find a club) might go for £20-30 million.

 

[Amar__]

I know Van Gaal said something about always playing his captain earlier in the season but I think that's either being taken too literally or is lost in translation. Van Gaal's shown throughout his career he's willing to drop big names, most recently Di Maria, Falcao and RvP. I don't for one moment think he's somehow scared or reluctant to drop Rooney just because he nominated him as captain.

It's not, he repeated that million times. Even when Rooney was doubtful few times over the season after being injured, he would keep saying things like: " If he is fit, he will definitely play because he is my captain, and he plays whenever he is fit."

 

[Hellboy]

I would have voted yes and get rid if there were any great striker available in the summer but I can't see many. He's been awful for large parts of the last 2 seasons.

 

[pascell]

I wouldn't sell him and for me he isn't past it either. He'll easily score 20+ goals next season if the service is there, which it should be given the attacking talent we have.
All our team needs if a stronger midfield and defence.
We're a team in transition, selling our club captain who's got vast amounts of experience in the PL and CL, will send us backwards.

 

[Amar__]

We'll never sell him even if we wanted too. No one would pay him the wages he's earning here, and he will never accept to lower his demands, so I think everyone who hopes that we'll sell him can wake up. Only Chelsea wanted him even when we didn't want to offer him new contract, and they wanted everyone considering they had Torres leading their line. I am sure they

Our best hope is that someone at our club finally realises that he isn't our best player(considering he hasn't showed that for years actually) and that we shouldn't be building the team around him, and that he doesn't deserve any special treatment. We should be building the team around younger players and not around the player who after more than 10 years spent at the club has no fixed position, and not because he is versatile(as his fans want to believe) but because he simply doesn't excel in any position.

 

[Salfordlad70]

He can't play in midfield and he's not good enough in the number 9 position anymore sadly, and we have better players for the number 10 role. If we sold him I wouldn't be too upset although with RvP set to leave, although he should leave before Rooney, we are suddenly without strikers. Rooney is 29 and isn't going to improve any so now maybe the time to cash in. We have aging strikers earning a fortune and those strikers are not consistently producing. A complete overhaul is required.

 

[11101]

Do u watch United? He hasnt been world class since 2011/12.

Every game, you?

I see a player who has fulfilled the role the manager has asked of him, even though its not his favoured role, and still scored 12 goals from midfield amongst some dire team performances. Stick Aguero in central midfield and see how many goals he scores.

Hes not the player we thought he may become but hes still easily the best English forward and still world class.

 

[dannyrhinos89]

I'm no apologist for Moyes but wouldn't that have been the Boards decision?

Don't know but moyes seemed to take the credit for "persuading" him to stay

 

[sullydnl]

"World Class" is a subjective term but surely it's difficult to place Rooney in that category when there are quite a few strikers around who are clearly better than him? I mean if we call Rooney world class then how do we describe the likes of Aguero, Suarez, Neymar, Costa, etc.?

We're talking about a striker who hasn't scored more than 20 goals since the 11/12 season and who has only broken the 20 goal barrier once in the last five seasons. Obviously there are mitigating factors but still....

 

[m1y2]

Ferguson also bought bebe and didn't give pogba a chance so not sure how relevant that is.

confirmation he's human being then? He was mostly right. I feel he was right in Rooney's case. He would be a good player to have if he wasn't nailed to start every game, if he wasn't made undroppable captain and having not had the ego he has. He will never agree to be a squad player. That's why I want to sell him.

He will be a big problem if we decide to finally invest in a striker better than him who are certainly there, he will be dropped to midfield again and we will see some shit football and best player rotting on the bench.. Either it's his natural early peak, unlucky ankle ad other injuries or just his unwillingness to work hard, don't think he was ever close to how Ronaldo worked, his 300k wage is pretty motivational right? Thank you, Dave! ... wthre this or that he is worse every year and is declining really fast and w should spot it first to make some money on him and keep on proggressing rebuilding.

Personally can't believe 35% people think he's not past it.. anyway I was always big fan of him so I am sad what's becoming to him but we should not keep players for merit, I'm giving him one season, he should prove me wrong or ppl will be back on him again

 

[thejtrain]

Every time Rooney has poor a performance these types of threads happen.

100% no from me he's a pivotal component of our team.

This has all been said before...

I was expecting this kind of post - a bit late maybe, but never mind. Just so you know, we'll have such threads at least twice a month on average if that was the case. I honestly can't understand people that still believe he's the same player he was years ago.

 

[Cheesy]

He’s a little bit past it in that he’s not had a brilliant season since 2011/2012, but he’s still a very good player at times and can be useful for us. He’s certainly not someone I would sell. His game definitely has deteriorated a bit in the past few years though, although he’ll still produce some very good stuff from time to time.

 

[Sparky_Hughes]

The problem I can see us having eventually is Rooney is not one of those players you can phase out, for years we have been hearing how he needs games to find his form, etc etc, and to a degree thats true. So if a better option is identified, he is going to be at his worst as a sub or coming in and out of the side, not to mention will his ego allow him to accept that role. If we can sign a world class number 9 then we should sell, but given the lack of realistic options.......keep for now.

 

[rover]

1) fergie would only pick players for game based on footballing reasons;

2) if some players proved themselves to be trouble makers then fergie would ruthlessly show them the door;

3) when fergie needed to clean up the room for younger players, he could also drive some unwanted players out if they no longer had a future. some of them were even long serving loyal servants.


A) fergie played rooney in midfield and droped rooney in the real game because of 1);

B) when rooney was talking something non-sense in his office at his last year, fergie shown rooney the door because of 2);

if fergie didn't retire and B) didn't happen, rooney would still probably be gone right now because of 3)

 

[Green_Red]

Anyone who thinks Rooney is past it needs their heads examined. There isnt a club in world football that if Rooney became available wouldnt be interested and add to that there isnt a manager in the world that wouldnt want to have him in their starting 11.

This has got to be a wum thread!

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

Anyone who thinks Rooney is past it needs their heads examined. There isnt a club in world football that if Rooney became available wouldnt be interested and add to that there isnt a manager in the world that wouldnt want to have him in their starting 11.

This has got to be a wum thread!

That sounds more of a wum post than anything else in here so far to be honest. Questioning whether we've seen the best of Rooney is a fair thing to ask.

He's not played consistently well for a long, long time and his end to this season was pretty desperate. Even on that mini run we went on where we looked good he still struggled.

 

[Sam]

He's past his best, but right now we have so many issues that need addressing, with a squad that still needs a lot of rebuilding, that selling Rooney would just add to the problems.

Maybe in a year or two's time, when (hopefully) we have a quality balanced squad again, we can revisit this question. For now, he's still got a lot to offer.

 

[LeftyBlaster]

Get rid. The longer he stays the more he'll become a millstone tied round our necks. He'll end up being our Gerrard. It's already starting to happen.

 

[IBleedRed]

I think he has already peaked but will still be good enough to be a key player for United, for at least a couple more years

 

[wiz4231]

Having not taken the option to buy Falcao and RVP considering his options this is the last chance for Rooney to prove that he is the man to lead the line. If he doesn't preform to the highest level in the coming season then its time to part ways (regardless if he breaks the record or not) just like RVP (if he leaves that is).
If RVP does leave it will be interesting to see what happens with Chicha as he's still on our books. With Rooney being our main man I don't think we should go and get another WC striker like Benzema because its going to be another Falcao situation (being wasted). Either we bring in a young up and coming talent or keep Chicha.

 

[NL Max]

I don't think the club is even thinking of selling him, if they do it'll probably be very difficult with his wages meaning we'd probably sell him for peanuts and he has to agree. There is just no way I can see him leaving right now. He can break the topscorer record and is captain, he's one of the few veterans in the squad which is one of the youngest in the league.

Louis van Gaal is happy with him so he will start most games, he might not be at his peak but he's still a great footballer who can score goals. He might not be a perfect 9 or 10 right now but I think van Gaal will have a plan, he will know this dilemma aswell and how to incoorporate Rooney into the side next year as I don't think he will be shoved around as much. I for one am very interested to know where Rooney will play next year, my guess is as striker.

 

[Dante]

He sets our tempo. He's the one the rest of the team look up to for leadership and seek out when they have the ball. It'd be madness to get rid right now. Maybe if one of our new signings shows they can do that as well, we can think about selling him next season. At the moment, we need Rooney in the side.

 

[2cents]

It's a weird one, because if you look back over all the goals we've scored in the last two seasons, he's involved in so many of them. At the same time he has such obvious and increasingly frustrating weaknesses that seem to be getting worse with time.

 

[prarek]

He's way too versatile to be past it this early. I can see him playing so many positions in a possession oriented game.

 

[crimsonife]

He's past it, I mean he's scored a fair amount of goals but not world-class. I don't think this will change much even with better support next season. But I would keep him, seeing as Falcao is out and RVP possibly following suit. Don't see us selling him anyway and no club would want his wages.

 

[Skills]

We can't sell him. His salary and contract is far too big to offload and his value to us is a lot more than any other club - from a marketing perspective. If we had got Bale a few years ago after Fergie's retirement I think we would've sold him, as we would've had a new 'face' for the club.

But I don't think we'll be achieving much in Europe with him in the team unless the rest of the attack is quite stacked. See Bayern's attack of 2013 where they had Ribery, Robben and Muller to compliment Mandzukic.

 

[LeftyBlaster]

We can't sell him. His salary and contract is far too big to offload and his value to us is a lot more than any other club - from a marketing perspective. If we had got Bale a few years ago after Fergie's retirement I think we would've sold him, as we would've had a new 'face' for the club.

But I don't think we'll be achieving much in Europe with him in the team unless the rest of the attack is quite stacked. See Bayern's attack of 2013 where they had Ribery, Robben and Muller to compliment Mandzukic.

a) That's the biggest problem; one we created for ourselves through Moyes

b) Marketing .... perspective?

 

[Sammyjunn]

Every game, you?

I see a player who has fulfilled the role the manager has asked of him, even though its not his favoured role, and still scored 12 goals from midfield amongst some dire team performances. Stick Aguero in central midfield and see how many goals he scores.

Hes not the player we thought he may become but hes still easily the best English forward and still world class.

You act as if he's played in midfield for 80% of the season, he has like 4 goals in 14 as a striker and hasnt scored 1/2 away goals since March 2014, if you are a bit objective, you can see that at the moment, Rooney isnt in the same league as the likes of Suarez, Aguero, Ibra, who are the world class strikerd at the moment.

 

[Sky1981]

The problem is not only that he's past it, but with him being in the team we will have to somehow accommodate him by playing him all over the park. He's not good enough in midfield, he's not good enough as number 9, he's redundant in the wing, basically he's the jack of all trades. But if we wanted to become the powerhouse again Jacks are the last thing we need at the moment. Players like John O'shea are pivotal in our quest, they provide firepower and cover, but when we are obliged to put John O'shea all the time he will become our weakest link.

I'd rather we just sell him and learn to live with him. Replace him with a natural Striker or proper midfielder, whatever it is we're lacking. For 10 years he hasn't even find his consistency, world class for only 1-2 seasons in 10 while being the main focal point of the team is not good enough.

With him still here we'll be drawn back to the same story all over again, he sulks if he's not played, drop him a few games and he'll raise some commottions, play top drawer for 1-2 games and when he start getting started he'll be back to his sulky off form form while it takes us another 15 games to realise that and find the bollocks to drop him again, rinse and repeat.

Just fecking move him on, we'll have less headache in the long run. And fcuk loyalty, he has shown us none, we should just be professional and cut all the emotional ties. He's simply not good enough anymore to be the star of our team, and time to move on.

 

[Sky1981]

Every game, you?

I see a player who has fulfilled the role the manager has asked of him, even though its not his favoured role, and still scored 12 goals from midfield amongst some dire team performances. Stick Aguero in central midfield and see how many goals he scores.

Hes not the player we thought he may become but hes still easily the best English forward and still world class.

You made it as it's some kind of noble sacrifice from him, I see that as forcing a manager to find him a slot to play while reducing the overall effectiveness of the team.

 

[Green_Red]

That sounds more of a wum post than anything else in here so far to be honest. Questioning whether we've seen the best of Rooney is a fair thing to ask.

He's not played consistently well for a long, long time and his end to this season was pretty desperate. Even on that mini run we went on where we looked good he still struggled.

Yea but you also have to take into account the different teams he has played in, his role and his responsibilities in those teams. Playing in a team when you are one of the senior players, captain no less, where your team mates are a lot less experienced than you changes how you play and to people watching it looks like youre not as effective as you used to be. But you change your game. Theres a huge difference playing in front of Scholes, Giggs, Carrick, Ronaldo, Keane, Fletcher, to playing in front of Herrera, Fellaini, Young, Mata, Blind. As good as those other players are, players like Rooney take on different jobs in the team when playing.

 

[Tincanalley]

This is great. All the Rooney detractors can hang out in here. Cosy.