Zico wrote:

Kamikaze, you raise a good point. With Giggs and Scholes on the way out, United are in trouble. Being cash-strapped, Ferguson might actually see the value in dumping Rooney and rebuilding. If he is able to fleece Madrid for Benzema and 40 million pounds, then he can turn that 40 million into two solid midfielders. If the club were planning to keep Rooney, I am sure the Glazers would give Ferguson a good chunk of the proceeds from a Rooney sale. The Ronaldo money, I suspect, was initially kept to beautify the balance sheet ahead of the bond issue.

That sort of deal is pure fantasy. With only 12 months left on Rooney's contract at the end of this season, they'll be lucky to get £25M for him. If he wants out, which I'm still only hopeful rather than confident is the case, then United are in a weak position.

Rooney' stock has dropped considerably in the last 6 months or so, whether Real Madrid would be at the head of a long que to sign him, I'm not so sure. As we have seen a few times before once the relationship with Fergie breaks down, he will drop you without regret. Man United would, of course, be insane to sell to any one else in the Premier League.

Like James, I let myself consider the possibility of Rooney coming here for a half second, then dismissed it completely - Wenger would love him here though, and no doubt would take the opportunity if it presented itself.

You would have to be stark raving mad to swap Higuain, a proven goal scorer in Spain, for Rooney, a psychologically damaged striker on the lam from his Presbyterian father substitute.

kamikaze80 wrote:

if fergie gets this wrong, it's not inconceivable to see things get really liverpool really fast at old trafford. what's a united team without giggs, scholes and rooney? berbatov, nani, valencia, fletcher, anderson, park, hernandez isn't much better than what spurs have got. the club is already in the red due to their massive interest payments, so any disruption to their revenue flow could be devastating. and you have to think fergie will be retiring soon, and even if mourinho replaces him, will he have the transfer funds that he's used to?

Suddenly Wenger's policy seems pretty good eh? 😆

United wouldn't have an issue maintaining a squad of quality players without the leveraged buyout. The money they haven't had available to spend due to the Glazers' interest payments and bond issues, even just in the last year, is astounding.

However I'm sure Wenger finds it slightly gratifying to watch the cracks appear as Fergie is held to a minimal transfer spend 😃

Gurgen wrote:

Suddenly Wenger's policy seems pretty good eh? 😆

Not if you measure success in terms of trophies won it doesn't. 😆

pretty sure he was kidding, biggus. i dont think anyone is advocating some dickhead buying arsenal using funds borrowed at credit card-like interest rates, and having something like 80m sucked out of the club by banks every year, not to mention whatever the leech/owner is sucking out in dividends and bullshit payments/fees.

glazer is a parasite - it's all about sucking out as much as you can without killing the host.

Rooney is complaining about United having no ambition. This of the team that gave him 3 league titles and a European Cup. I wonder what he would say about Arsenal. :-) He seems a bit of an ungrateful tit. I'd like to see him go to Real or Barca. I'm pretty sure he'd pull a Benzema.

I have to say that I don't think that scenario will ever come to light amongst the top players. It is highlighted every time that a big player is the subject of transfer speculation but it seems that nobody in football wants to open that particular can of worms.

So, Fergie has confirmed Rooney wants out. Surely they'll have to sell up this January and avoid losing him for even less.

Hoooollllly shit. Despite all the press I still didn't quite believe it. That'll be the cat amongst the pidgeons then.

James wrote:

So, Fergie has confirmed Rooney wants out. Surely they'll have to sell up this January and avoid losing him for even less.

Depends on the offers I suppose. Given the way things have gone though it'd seem a complete waste of time and money to keep him. Pretty obvious Fergie would rather not play him now.

Fergie looks really upset, delighted for him. I reckon he thought Rooney was going to be his main man for years to come. Hopefully it'll push him closer to retirement.

Ferguson must be gutted.

It does put things in perspective though. Fabregas really wanted to go to Barca. He had a place to go, but he never acted like an idiot.

I wouldn't be surprised if Rooney almost crashed his Bentley during contract negotiations upon realizing that United won't pay him Citeh-type money.

There's no way this is over money. United are one of the highest payers in world football.

I think Fergie's PR exercise has convinced quite a few that poor old United have done all they could to keep the greedy, 'orrible little superstar, but he just won't have it.

Despite what Fergie says, I'm convinced there has been a breakdown in the relationship between the two - otherwise today never would have happened. I also think there's a chance this is to do with his marital problems.

Ricky1985 wrote:

There's no way this is over money. United are one of the highest payers in world football.

I think Fergie's PR exercise has convinced quite a few that poor old United have done all they could to keep the greedy, 'orrible little superstar, but he just won't have it.

Despite what Fergie says, I'm convinced there has been a breakdown in the relationship between the two - otherwise today never would have happened. I also think there's a chance this is to do with his marital problems.

Problems he's only having because he shagged a prostitute. I don't think United could have done much about that really.

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

Hoooollllly shit. Despite all the press I still didn't quite believe it. That'll be the cat amongst the pidgeons then.

My thoughts exactly. Was highly pessimistic but funding very funny now after the way those Mancs were laghing at us over Fabregas wanting to leave. Just hope they get bumped and get a shit fee and he goes abroad rather than staying in the UK. Perfect scenario.

It's every newspaper editor's wet dream. Potentially the biggest PL transfer story ever.

Always figured Rooney would stab them in the back eventually. He just seems like that sort of player and person. Wherever he ends up I hope it's not here. Not that there's a great risk of it happening, but still. I just couldn't bear myself to support someone like him.

He may not be likable but we'd win a lot of silverware with him and Cesc in the team.