WAYNE ROONEY
Forget nostalgia. Forgive any possibly deluded Evertonians who think they are getting a good player. They are not.
The fact of the matter is that Wayne Rooney is now not good enough to get into the Everton side. He may occasionally be OK coming off the bench for the last half hour of games but, as a starter, he has lost it.
Who at Goodison actually wants him back? I can’t imagine that Bill Kenwright would ever sanction the kind of money Rooney is paid, especially as he is now no better than average.
Does Ronald Koeman really see a 31 year-old fading star as part of his blue revolution? We doubt it, although he is unlikely to argue if he is handed a player who MAY be useful from time to time.
No, so it has to be that Farhad Moshiri is the one who wants him and, as the majority shareholder, he will get his way more often than not. Maybe he sees Rooney as a world famous footballer who will generate lots of income for Everton. Well, maybe this would have been the case five years ago, but not now.
Rooney still has his supporters but is seen by many, many more for what he is.
He is simply an Everton fan who, through greed and a very selfish nature, abandoned his boyhood club in search of personal glory and wealth. This he achieved by milking Manchester United of millions of pounds without returning even a fraction of what he took.
Yes, he was a part of some successful teams but the operative word here is “teams“. As an individual he contributed little. Yes, as the main striker for *eleven years he went on to break the record for the most Manchester United goals but, come on, over eleven years he simply HAD to break the record. He wouldn’t have been considered much of a striker if he hadn’t! (In breaking the great Sir Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring record the “great” Wayne Rooney managed to average LESS than 20 goals per season!)
Now he is, hopefully, going home. We here at WSA don’t know what sort of welcome he is expecting but it is unlikely to be a particularly warm one.
ROMELU LUKAKU
Romelu Lukaku, on the other hand, appears to be going in the opposite direction. He has now replaced Alvaro Morata as the main transfer target for José Mourinho, depending on which newspaper you choose to believe.
From what we can discern, he is similar to the Spaniard but not as good which is surprising when you consider that, again depending upon your national rag of choice, United are offering more for him than they did for Morata.
No matter, as long as United get someone who can replace the goals scored by Zlatan, preferably with more, then who they sign is largely irrelevant.
Lukaku is certainly a Mourinho type of player. Similar in build to Didier Drogba he is good in the air and has an accurate left foot whilst not being too shabby with his right.
The strange thing is that it was Mourinho who sold him while at Chelsea so, unless José is about to admit that he was wrong, (and that would be an admission previously unheard of), then Lukaku has improved dramatically since those days, so much so that he could become the main man at United for years.
All that now remains to be seen is whether Dithering Ed continues to try and persuade Real Madrid to part with Morata for less money than he is prepared to pay for Lukaku, or he gives up on that one to concentrate on the rest of the list he was given by José Mourinho back in March.
Watch this space!
*We are not counting the last two years where Rooney, when he has played, has been used mainly out wide or in midfield. This despite the fact that Sir Bobby Charlton scored ALL of his goals from midfield, making his achievement far greater than Rooney’s could ever be.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 