Blog:Manchester United prepared to break bank to keep hold of Wayne Rooney
Sunday, January 31st, 2010In the space of a few seconds towards the end of the first half at the Emirates Stadium yesterday Wayne Rooney demonstrated precisely why Manchester United are preparing to offer him the biggest contract in the history of the club. Unlike Cristiano Ronaldo, his predecessor as United’s talisman, the England forward cannot wait to sign it.
Rooney has been leading his side’s charge for honours for some time, but his 100th Premier League goal may come to be remembered as the clearest illustration of his special ghd hair straighteners gifts.
This was the all-round footballer the nation was promised when a fresh-faced and pale Scouser burst on to the scene as a teenager, possessing a unique blend of skill, vision, athleticism and, of course, a rare finishing ability. Rooney’s goal, like the player himself, had everything.
World-class sprinters would have been proud of the lung-busting run that took Rooney more than 60 yards from deep in his own half to the edge of Arsenal’s penalty area in the 38th minute, yet after demonstrating his impressive speed, he scorned such modern notions as recovery. The 24-year-old had begun the move, picking up Park Ji Sung’s clearance to find Nani haring away down the right, and he set off in hot pursuit, parting five Arsenal defenders as Moses did the Red Sea before arriving in a striker’s version of the Promised Land, the opposition penalty area.
On receiving the ball back from Nani he showed the calmness of an assassin, shooting past Manuel Almunia with his first touch for his 22nd goal of the season. Even Sir Alex Ferguson, whose “excited grandad” celebratory jig was more animated than normal, could hardly believe his eyes.
“Rooney was unbelievable,” the United manager said. “He was the key point for us because they just couldn’t handle him. Everything was played towards him, behind him or in front of Mbt shoes him and he was on it all the time. It was really great play today.
“We’ve always known he wants to stay as the boy’s very happy at the club. You couldn’t meet a better lad, really. He’s a down-to-earth boy. He’ll not change, that’s the way he is.
“It’s refreshing in this day and age when you see the amount of celebrity-type footballers who earn a lot of money, but he never changes.”
Ferguson refused to elaborate on the specifics of Rooney’s contractual situation, but David Gill, the chief executive, revealed afterwards that the club will open negotiations with his advisers in the summer. Despite their eye-popping debt, United will offer Rooney a new five-year deal worth £150,000 a week to keep him out of the clutches of Real Madrid and Barcelona, destinations he is keen to visit ghd straighteners, but only in the Champions League. With his family down the road in Liverpool and a young family at home, Rooney has no wish to leave his abode in leafy Cheshire.
“We would hope Wayne would stay with us until he has finished playing,” Gill said. “He has a contract to 2012 and that will be addressed during the close season because we would want to put him on a new long-term contract.
“We have not got round to those discussions yet because Wayne is focusing on the football and the World Cup. But he is 24 and has his best years ahead of him. For obvious reasons, very few UK-based players want to leave Manchester United.”
Such affinity to the North West is not always the case with foreign players, although on yesterday’s evidence, Nani’s departure from United may not be as inevitable as it once seemed. The Portugal winger shrugged off the fallout from a row with Ferguson this season to produce his best performance for the Ghd club, creating the opening goal after leaving Gaël Clichy, Samir Nasri and Denilson mesmerised by his footwork before providing the second.
Unlike Rooney, who scored a hat-trick on his debut for United as an 18-year-old, the similarly prodigiously talented Nani has taken some time to make his mark after his £17 million signing from Sporting three years ago, but it will have been worth the wait if he continues in this vein.
“The boy has come back,” Ferguson said. “He had an injury, but has come back freshened up. His last three games have been first-class.”
It would be daft to claim that the champions do not miss Ronaldo but, even allowing for Rooney’s contribution, the most encouraging aspect of this performance for Ferguson were the MBT Shoes indications that United are no longer a one-man team.
