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PICTURE: Why Rooney will be making a big mistake

by Sam Peoples

“I made the biggest mistake of my life when I tried to leave Manchester United in 2010. What happened will not happen again.” Wayne Rooney’s autobiography

You would of hoped Wayne Rooney had genuinely learned from his mistakes after handing in a transfer request back in 2010 before signing a new deal with the club but less than three years later, we find ourselves in a very similar situation.

Despite neither United or Rooney confirming/denying that he has handed in a second transfer request, Moyes made it abundantly obvious all was not well in the Rooney camp in his press conference by dodging the question when asked by journalists, simply stating he was ‘training fantastically’.

Fans struggled to get over the fact that Rooney slapped the club, and Ferguson, in the face by publicly questioning our ambition in a blatant attempt to siphon more money that he was granted.

rooney-statsYet, we sit here now after Rooney’s transfer request and have to ask whether Rooney warranted his pay rise. Certainly, for the first year he did with a great return of 34 goals but that wasn’t the case last year.

A lethargic and disinterested Rooney struggled all season and while a return of 16 goals despite his poor form was admirable, it was nothing in comparison to what United had expected.

But it wasn’t merely because of his own fitness issues. Robin van Persie’s meteoric rise stole Rooney’s spotlight; he wasn’t the main man anymore, he wasn’t the King and for the first time in his United career, he had lost his invincibility and was vulnerable.

Michael Owen thinks that it is just a case of giving Wayne a bit of loving and he may be right, but he doesn’t warrant the respect to get that love for free. He made sure of that in 2010.

If Wayne wants to stay, then he needs to go back to the basics and become hungry for success again. He needs to find the fire in his belly that made him so tenacious as a youngster and by doing that, he will make himself indispensable to the team. Until then, he has to settle for the fact that he isn’t graced a guaranteed starting spot anymore.

If he wants to leave, let him. The last thing the club needs is someone who doesn’t want to be there disrupting Moyes’ dressing room.

The grass is not greener on the other side as a host of ex-players have shown in their years after leaving Old Trafford. The sooner Rooney realises that the quicker this whole situation can be sorted out.

Photo: Twitter/MUFCBulletin

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