Rebel Wayne confirms he wants to go

The wrath of Old Trafford is coming upon Wayne

Fergie gave an astonishing press regarding the Rooney saga, with information regarding the background dealings that were happening. Apparently, Rooney had refused to sign a new contract way back in August and agreement could not come into place so far. Fergie has expressed his shock when he heard from David Gill that the contract was not signed and that the player had expressed his wish to leave the club. The Scot had also stated his confusion over the matter when Wayne had just declared a couple of months ago that he wants to stay at Man Utd for life. Rooney released a statement not long after that to confirm that the reports are right and he's looking to move away from United. He cites the club's "lack of ambition" and no assurance from Gill that investments will brought for future star players and implies that the club is on a decline.

Not only is Fergie shocked, I would say it's a whole nuclear bombshell being dropped at the Old Trafford fans. He chose to announce his arrival into Old Trafford with a hat-trick against a Turkish opposition in the Champions League and he chose to announce his departure in a similar fashion, hours before United meet up against their Turkish opposition. This is ridiculous nonsense from Rooney! I fear that the knife is plunged so deep that it would be hard for many of the fans to recover for it. This is astonishing news. Wayne Rooney, turning away from the fans that have adopted him as their favoured son of Manchester and denouncing the club at the same time. It's almost close to Lampard saying that he wants to quit Chelsea or Gerrard saying that to the Kop because Rooney, throughout the years has become synonymous as one of the front faces of United. United fans can accept if that were coming from Ronaldo and Tevez but not this and especially not from Wayne Rooney. Even the players mentioned that they could feel the gloom in Old Trafford crowd despite a victory over Budaspor from a superb effort from Nani. The usual anti-Scousers chant reserved for Liverpudians was sung several times, probably directed at Rooney himself. The fans are clearly wounded from such a nasty betrayal. Whatever badge thumping or kissing that Rooney did in the past has clearly gone down the drain and would certainly mean nothing in the future.

One may say what goes around comes around because that's what Rooney did against Everton. He left Everton in search of a higher ambition and he is doing the same now when he perceived that United did not have the squad to match his ambitions following the departures of Tevez and Ronaldo in the past two years with no major star replacement. It seems to be a consistent argument from him but he's so wrong about it and there's definitely something more than just that. United certainly do not look like a declining team to anyone with the 3-1 victory over Chelsea and also the 3-0 win over Newcastle during that time. Why didn't he sign the contract then? When he joined in 2004, wasn't that a period of decline for United which culminated in one of the worst Champions League season exits in 2005 at group stage which included Rooney being sent off? He joined into United not at its peak but at its decline after losing badly to the Gooners for the 03/04 title. Beckham had already left and Van Nistelrooy and Keane moved away from the club in subsequent years. Not to mention, we had no reliable keepers that we could depend on before Edwin arrived in our first winning season. There's no way he could have foreseen that United would have started another run of domination at 2007 with all the seemingly unbreakable pair of Chelsea and Mourinho looming around in between 2004 to 2007. He should have took flight by then. Fergie's response to Rooney's reply was right. There are plenty of United doomsayers abound at this time and it's easy to jump into that conclusion given the way the team is playing now although the ironic thing is that United has not been beaten so far this season. Who would have expected that Ronaldo or Rooney would make that deadly combination for the triple seasons of domination, especially with the bust-up between both of them after the World Cup? The young squad looks to be an awful bunch right now but bear in mind that in 2005 we still thought that Ronaldo is a non-productive show-boater compared to Beckham. Already in Budaspor that we could see some of them maturing in their game already, in particular Nani whose decision-making are much more deadly and wiser and Obertan has shown some promise with his skills in dribbling with the ball. It's not possible to see a title-winning team now but Man Utd has shown time and time again in overcoming its supposed decline with a couple of youths.

I supposed a modern footballer like Rooney could not be patient enough to wait through the development of young players but he should remember that he was once a young player too. Or he could just be a lazy convenient thug who sees this as an escape avenue for his messy private life affair. Or he is just greedy for some more Sheikh dollars. Ian Holloway and McLeish had placed their support for Fergie in getting tough with the situation and after such revelations, Fergie would have swung public opinion to his side. I wonder how Rooney's other team-mates will feel when he branded the team as being not "adequate". Honestly, I don't see him going to Spain because of his wife and culturally, he'll have lots of problems settling in. Both Owen and Beckham would know it and they didn't do too well over there. As one detractor observed,"Rooney can't even master English and he wants to learn Spanish now?" That would leave his destination to either being City or Chelsea who could afford his wages. If he goes City, he would find himself being public enemy for a 2nd club other than Everton in addition of fighting with 5 other strikers for places. But for Chelsea, they would have second thoughts in wanting to take someone who can't play in the Champions League for them with the price tag that comes along given that he's tied to United for that competition. He ain't Cristiano Ronaldo, so I do not know how a move away from United can benefit him in terms of trophy ambitions besides financial gain. With 2 more months to go to the transfer window, alot can happen during this time. The saga still looks far from being resolved and while many fans are angry and dissapointed with the way Wayne is behaving, there's still a minority who hoped that it's just a passing tantrum from him and that he would realise that United is the only logical choice of teams for him to stay. Which is your choice now Mr Wayne Rooney, to be Judas or the prodigal son?