RVP COULD HOLD MAN UTD TO RANSOM

RVP COULD HOLD MAN UTD TO RANSOM

D. Ray Morton, 14th March 2014.

Robin van Persie has certainly changed his tune this week announcing he is "happy" at Manchester United. The timing of this strikes as downright weird with United going into a Premier League clash at Old Trafford against Liverpool in which defeat could signal a change in the balance of power in the next era of English football. Sir Alex Ferguson dreamed of knocking Liverpool "off their perch" and achieved this last season by guiding United to more overall league title wins than their bitter rivals, largely thanks to RVP and his goals.

The Dutch man's struggles this season have been glaringly obvious in contrast to his outstanding 2012/13 season where he played through without injury which seemed to be the player's biggest weakness before joining from Arsenal. Van Persie publicly questioned David Moyes' training methods, hinting that a fragile talent such as his own should be treated very differently to the training regime that others might thrive on. Many sports scientists now mention the difference between fast muscle twitch and slow muscle twitch athletes whose bodies thrive on different types of workouts. Wayne Rooney was delighted with the extra running and cardio sessions introduced this season. Van Persie was not. A Dutch fitness coach described Moyes' methods as dinosaur-like in regards to his treatment of RVP.

About a month ago, speculation had risen that van Persie was sick of playing at United in a team, now without Ferguson, languishing well outside of the Champions League qualification spots. He was even linked back with a move to Arsenal. The only thing that has really changed in that time is that Wayne Rooney signed an incredible £300,000 a week contract making him the third highest-paid footballer in the world on club salary, take home cash alone. Perhaps RVP realises there's no chance of increasing his own wages by moving away from United. His injuries, form and age would represent a huge gamble to any team willing to take a chance on him. That is, but for United in their own desperation.

With Rooney raking in wages far beyond his abilities should dictate, maybe van Persie wants to get in on the sinking ship, cash-cow that United appear to have become of late. One last big money contract to set up his retirement. He may never play in the Champions League again if he does sign that contract but he did manage to win that elusive big trophy he had always craved last season by winning the Premier League. Is he holding United at ransom and would you blame him if the club were naive enough to increase his wages as his attributes naturally decrease? The coming weeks should let us know.

ROONEY'S BUMPER CONTRACT AN ACT OF DESPERATION FROM UNITED

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.