Rooney!

[welkram]

What the fuck is this that l'm reading.

Rooney signing new contract for ?300,000 per week.

What the fuckatie, fuck, fuck, fuck.

[lensman]

That will probably take Stephen Hawking years to earn.

[Arginald Valleywater]

My Man U supporter friends and colleagues think it is mad and a sign of desperation. Scholes will be polishing his boots again...

[Zorro]

I have heard that by signing a longer bigger contract, it increases his re-sale value in the summer when United are NOT in the champions league and all the player release clauses kick in.

United will lose a lot of players in the summer, and will need to rebuild, the more they can make from selling players like Rooney and RVP the more they can pay to bring players in.

[JamesW]

Zorro wrote:

> I have heard that by signing a longer bigger contract, it
> increases his re-sale value in the summer when United are NOT
> in the champions league and all the player release clauses kick
> in.


Your point is irrelevant, because if Rooney is considering leaving in the summer he will not sign the contract anyway.

[MegaTon]

Man U getting desperate.

[cockneygeezer2009]

Some football clubs have more money than sense.

[Zorro]

Of course he will sign the contract, you seem to be missing the point.

By signing he gets more money, and if United fail to reach the champions league, his release clause kicks in and United get to sell him for more money than they could now, which helps United in the long run as they have more money to invest in a squad overhaul.

It is in both parties interest to sign.

[3SS]

If they fail to make champions league? Surely you don't think that's possible anymore

[Sam Slater]

Doesn't make that much sense really. Chelsea only valued him at around ?30m last summer and Man Utd said no. I can't see how anyone would value him more than that next summer when he's a year older. Maybe PSG or Monaco......but I can't see him moving abroad. If Rooney wanted to leave due to not reaching the Champions League, he'd want his value to decrease, not increase. Which means he won't sign a new deal. I'm pretty sure he can buy himself out of his contract in the summer too. If Man Utd wanted to sell they would have sold in the summer of last year and wouldn't risk giving him a 5+ year contract at his age.

What's more likely is that the ?300,000pw is a bloated figure. He's on around ?200,000pw now but when he signed his last contract the media told us it was ?250,000pw-?265,000pw depending on where you read it. I know Ferguson wanted to lower his wages, so the reality might well be a compromise where he stays on the same wages he's on now, but they'll give him a longer contract, guaranteeing him that wage well into his mid 30s. Man Utd have a policy of rolling 1 year contracts after a player hits 30, so from Rooney's perspective it's a good deal. From Man Utd's perspective, they'll let the media quote these silly figures to give the impression they can still attract big names to the club and pay top wages.

In the two seasons Rooney has stayed fit and been played as the main striker he's scored 25+ league goals a season. With Mata's acquisition and RVP's age, it wouldn't surprise me if they sold RVP and put Rooney up top and Mata behind. They'll give Rooney the captaincy too given Evra and Vidic are leaving, Fletcher won't play every game and Rooney's been there 10 years.

Not that any of this will make the slightest difference to Man Utd's fortunes, given that Moyes is managing it all.