Is time up for Wayne Rooney at Manchester United?
The England skipper has had well over a decade at the club in which he has won every trophy going.
But it seems his powers are now on the, erm, wane, and it’s even been reported that United boss Jose Mourinho has told him he can leave if he wants more regular first team football.
But where would he even go? What club could afford him?
We’ve taken a look at the top six favourites, along with the latest odds…
LA Galaxy – 7/2
Who wouldn’t want to play out their semi-retirement in the California sun?
Wayne’s former England mate and fellow Merseysider Steven Gerrard has been out there since he left Liverpool, but could soon be on his way home, freeing up one of their designated player spots.
(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
The Sun reports today that the Galaxy want to replace Gerrard with Rooney – and have even begun tentative discussions with his management to see what they might have to pay him.
Everton – 9/2
It would be the fairytale ending – the home boy packs up his Louis Vuitton washbag and heads back to Croxteth to re-sign for his boyhood club Everton and lead them into a new era of success under Ronald Koeman.
(Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Just a couple of problems: a) he’d have to take a massive wage cut for Everton to be close to affording him and b) would they even need – or want – him? Given that he looks about as fluid and mobile as a 19th century cathedral at the moment, it’s hardly an exciting proposition for Koeman or the fans to have him lumbering about Goodison Park getting in the way of Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku.
Inter – 5/1
Massive club? Yes. Playing in a proper league? Yes. Rich enough? Yes.
Inter’s new Chinese owners have the cash to pay him, and want a big, global name to signal their intent to take the club back to the very top – and reports in Italy claim Rooney is on their list.
Shanghai SIPG – 6/1
Former Southampton striker Graziano Pelle joined Chinese club Shandong Luneng in the summer – and they are paying him a reported £260,000. Per week.
Pelle is the latest in a growing number of good-to-average players getting megabucks in the mega rich Chinese league.
So, they could certainly afford Rooney – but is he ready to swap the top of the Premier League for a country where football is still in it’s infancy?
Even the fact that Wayne’s former England gaffer Sven-Goran Eriksson is the manager might not be enough to sway him.
(Photo by Adrian Dennis-Pool/Getty Images)
New York Red Bulls – 7/1
If he doesn’t fancy the west coast of America, how about the east? The club is bankrolled by the super-rich Red Bull brand so affording him would not be a problem, and Brit brothers Shaun and Bradley Wright Phillips are already on the books so they can show Wayne and Colleen around Manhattan.
Paris Saint-Germain – 10/1
A big club with tons of cash they could throw at him – and with Zlatan Ibrahimovic having left in the summer, they probably have a vacancy for a vastly overpaid, ageing striker whose powers are not what they were.
All odds courtesy of Ladbrokes.
