A penny for what was going through his mind as his team mates played out a 2-1 win over Swansea. Rooney may have been cheered by some fans’ singing his name throughout, but at the end when he picked up his medal he received boos from the crowd.
David Moyes now has a tricky problem when he takes over at United. He of course sued Rooney for libel after his departure for Manchester United. The fiery scouser has since apologised to Moyes, but there is a clear issue here. Moyes may been even less of a fan of Rooney’s than Ferguson.
There is no doubt Rooney’s vast potential and ability. Not to mention his work rate. But he seems patently unfit at times, unable to exert his vast influence as he may wish. He has had a patchy season, not needed so much anymore by Ferguson. You sense that Fergie was delighted not only to sign Robin van Persie last summer because of his goalscoring record, but because it meant he was that bit less reliant on Rooney.
Now United don’t really need Rooney. This is a team who sometimes play a front two, but more often than not have a centre forward with a withdrawn forward behind him. Van Persie, Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck are a great trio of forwards to choose from up front. Behind them, Shinji Kagawa would be an ideal player to field. Kagawa is yet to showcase the kind of form he showed at Borussia Dortmund, but it is surely only a matter of time before he fulfils his potential. He is a creative talent, full of running, technique and with plenty of goals in him. He should be able to more than fill a void left by Rooney.
Of course United have plenty of money for reinforcements anyway. They could sign any of the continent’s best young playmakers or forwards, from Robert Lewandowski and Edinson Cavani to Isco or Marco Verratti.
So Moyes will have a strong hand to play with at United. He has time to ponder his next move, and Ferguson seemingly was delighted that he isn’t going to be lumbered with this problem now. But he will surely be one of the figures Moyes consults when pondering what to do next. But he will be very pleased to know that Rooney is far from essential to his plans when he takes over at Old Trafford this summer.
