Roundtableradio

I know the whole footballing world is talking about Wayne Rooney at the moment for one reason or another, but I thought I’d give my opinion too for what it’s worth! How can a player go from one of the best in the world to being barely able to kick a football in just a few short months? Injury hasn’t helped, but I’m not sure that his ankle problem can be blamed entirely.

For a start, Rooney has recently come out to say that he never even had a bad ankle this season, so it sounds like Ferguson just dropped him. I completely agree that a player should be dropped when they aren’t playing well, but we know Rooney is a great player so surely he needs game time to get back into form? Hernandez, his replacement, will be a good player in the future but is still very raw, and Macheda even more so.

The off field problems have got to be the main reason for his lack of form. All the rumours about his personal life, plus the pictures of him drinking and smoking, probably hasn’t helped. When John Terry went through something similar last year his form suffered too. Being left out by Ferguson because of an injury he never had is probably not going to make the player too happy either. Even so, it’s difficult to see how such a good player can now barely control a ball. He was meant to be the star of the world cup, but turned out to be a complete flop, so there must be a reason.

If he does leave in January, I think it will be a huge loss to United. On form, he’s one of the best strikers in the world, and without the money to replace him it could be difficult for them to compete. Ferguson will sell him if he thinks that his focus is elsewhere though, so if the rumours are true then he could be on the way out. His preferred destination is probably Spain, but would anyone be very surprised if he ended up at Man City? What a story that would be – and it may yet happen.