By Ollie Irish
So much for dodging the bullets. In a press conference this afternoon ahead of Man Utd’s Champions League tie vs Bursaspor, Sir Alex Ferguson openly admitted that Wayne Rooney wants to leave United.
“The player says he’s adamant he wants to leave,” Fergie said.
“We’ve done nothing but help him. I don’t know how many times we’ve helped him in terms of his private life and other matters.”
Apparently United have known about Rooney’s intentions to leave for months. In an interview for MUTV, Fergie revealed that Rooney told United as long ago as 14 August that he would not sign a new contract. “I couldn’t believe it. I was dumbfounded,” Ferguson said.
Shit, meet the fan…
It’s a brilliant political move by Ferguson (as ever), who has piled all the pressure on his star player. With full disclosure from the club, it’s all on Rooney to make the next move; that won’t be easy, not now that his real intentions are out in the open. With Ferguson and the club expertly playing the wounded parents, suddenly it’s Rooney who is disloyal, where before it was Fergie and United treating the player badly.
In short, United have hung Rooney out to dry. Either he crawls beg and begs forgiveness or he fecks off to Man City for stupid money. Your move, Wayne.
Either way, you can’t help but feel it’s Fergie 1-0 Rooney.
Of course, there is another way of looking at it: Rooney knows United are on the slide and he’s jumping ship at the right time. But I’m not sure Wazza is that smart.