It
has been reported in the media this past week that Wayne Rooney is
set to sign a new contract with Manchester United which would earn
him £300,000 a week (£15.6m per annum) and would have him take over
as club captain next season due to the expected departures of several
senior players including Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Rio
Ferdinand. Such numbers will make Rooney the third highest paid
player in the world behind Cristiano Ronaldo (£21m per annum), who
signed a new contract with Real Madrid this season, and Lionel Messi
(currently £16m per annum but set to rise), who is currently
negotiating his own new contract with Barcelona which could see him
overtake Ronaldo in the earning stakes.
One
must question United's motives to hand Rooney this enormous sum of
cash. His new contract will see him earn more than international
superstars such as Radamel Falcao (Monaco), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris
St. Germain) and Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) who are all paid by
mega-rich club owners unlike United's financial model. The logic
behind the contract makes sense in terms of keeping Rooney out of
Jose Mourinho and Chelsea's reach. The Portuguese was vocal about his
interest in the 28 year-old striker last summer but David Moyes was
able to convince Rooney to stay despite Sir Alex Ferguson's best
efforts to leave him out in the cold last season. There had also been
rumours of foreign interest but these were speculative at best and
had Rooney left, chances are Chelsea would have been his destination.
However,
is Rooney really worth £300,000 a week? Becoming the third highest
paid player in the world should require incredible individual
achievement. Rooney was not featured in the twenty-three names on the
Ballon d'Or list nor was he even United's top scorer last season as
it was Robin van Persie, 7th in the list, who fired them to Premier
League glory with 30 goals in all competitions. Although David Moyes
will hint that the contract is an act of consolidation, it bares
hallmarks of vague desperation in that it demonstrates Rooney and his
agent's ability to negotiate a huge salary safe in the knowledge that
United are terrified of losing him. It also suggests that United have
no confidence in replacing Rooney due to the likelihood that they
will not take part in the Champions League next season. They would
rather pour a fortune into the pockets of Rooney rather than scout,
attract, bid for and bed in a new striker of required quality and on
much lower wages no doubt.
It
seems as though United will miss out on an opportunity to reduce
their wage budget too. For a club whose net spending is less than
that of Tottenham's over the past few seasons, United still pay out
huge salaries and getting Ferdinand, Evra and Vidic off the books
would have been a considerable financial boost had the money been
reinvested in badly needed signings rather than offering their
English talisman a figurative dump truck full of money. United's lack
of maneuverability in the negotiations could be a sign of things
ahead, the possibility of a season or two playing on Thursday nights
in the Europa League.
D.
Ray Morton, 18th February 2014.
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