Property Website Trolls Chelsea Target Wayne Rooney Outside Old Trafford

It's not been a summer of fun for Wayne Rooney.

Instead of helping England to underwhelm in a major international tournament—his preferred pastime during even years—the Manchester United striker has suffered a series of mildly unpleasant events.

Well, what a millionaire with a dream job might consider mildly unpleasant events. 

A second hair transplant, a pointless 22-hour return flight to Bangkok, two rejected transfer offers from Chelsea and a thoroughly underwhelming England performance, in which he was immediately upstaged by a former beetroot factory worker upon being substituted. 

With Manchester United insisting their prized striker is not for sale, Rooney's mission to escape from the directive of a manager who once sued him for libel is not going particularly well.  

If he does manage to force a move from Manchester to the Big Smoke in the coming weeks, however, property website Zoopla have made it clear they will help him find the des res of his dreams. 

By trolling the striker with a mobile advertisement around Old Trafford, Zoopla appear to be taking a leaf from the ambush marketing book of Paddy Power.

The Irish bookmaker once parked a moving billboard outside Stamford Bridge to mock Fernando Torres and helped Liverpool celebrate the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson and the death of an old lady with their "cheeky" train station advert. In both cases, the feeling of schadenfreude is meant to make us feel more like gambling on sporting events. 

As long as websites such as this keep giving companies the oxygen of publicity they crave, this kind of marketing will only continue. You're welcome. 



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