What’s the story?
Former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane has urged Wayne Rooney to stay in Europe. The Ex-United hard-man Keane, has urged his former teammate to continue playing his football in Europe despite a big money move to China available as an option to the England striker. While speaking on ITV Keane said, “No way Wayne Rooney should be going to China. He can still play football at the top level in England, Germany, Spain, Italy.”
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"Going to China? Madness. He's 31 years of age, there's plenty left yet for Wayne Rooney to do in Europe," the Irishman added.
In case you didn’t know...
Wayne Rooney has been heavily linked with a move to the Chinese Super League in the past couple of months, with weekly wages as ridiculous as £900,000-a-week being offered to him.
The former Everton striker broke Sir Bobby Charlton’s all-time goal-scoring record for Manchester United just last month, to become the new highest goal-scorer for the club. However, despite his landmark achievements the United board are yet to table a new contract for Rooney, whose current £300,000-a-week deal runs out in the next 18 months.
The heart of the matter
Roy Keane has rightly urged his former teammate to stay in Europe dubbing his proposed move to China as ‘madness’. The Irish midfield general captained Rooney for a couple of seasons before he retired and suggested that the now 31-year-old Englishman could still play a pivotal role for the club in the coming seasons before he decides to end his career.
What next?
At the moment Rooney’s future is undecided, but it is believed that he has one eye on concluding his playing career. Whether that is abroad or at Manchester United is subject to plenty of speculation currently. However, his former teammate Paul Scholes suggested that he would seek a new challenge if he is not given enough game time on the pitch under Jose Mourinho.
Sportskeeda’s take
The Red Devils have failed to win a major trophy (apart from the FA Cup with Louis Van Gaal), after the legendary Scotsman Sir Alex Ferguson retired as their manager. The club requires Rooney’s presence on the pitch and experience in the dressing room to ensure Untied’s future players have the same winning mentality as the United sides of old. Keane is absolutely spot on with his comments because he knows Rooney leads by example on the pitch and is the club’s highest goalscorer after all.
Despite not starting every week under Jose Mourinho the club should look at holding on to the player, provided he wants to stay. However, should he not get enough starts and game time under the Portuguese boss he could look at a move abroad, whether in Europe, the Far East or the United States.
