If Cristiano Ronaldo Leaves, Wayne Rooney Must Lead Manchester's Attack

Oh how we United fans are bored of transfer talk already. Bored of wondering when and where Louis Saha is going, bored over the Aaron Ramsey transfer milling about the media, bored over watching yet another youth leave in the form of Gerard Pique and adding another position that needs cover.

Oh yes we are bored, but none of the above add up to how bored we are over the Cristiano Ronaldo transfer saga.

Ask most Manchester United fans at the moment about the current situation over our Portuguese No. 7, and they will simply say "If he's going, will he just hurry up and go, and if not just come out and say he is staying?" followed by a torrent of abuse and lots of table banging, followed by their own opinion on possible replacements.

It true, our 42-goal winger would be a huge loss. A titanic loss. Let's not fool ourselves, he drove us towards both trophies last season and set the world alight, proving his talent once again.

Losing him to Madrid would not spell disaster for United, but his departure means a chunk of potential and a vital cog in the United setup is gone. If he does leave, and he most likely will, then it leaves us with a difficult situation.

It's a situation which needs someone within the team, someone who can show he can grab the team by the scruff of the neck and lead them to glory, someone who can be a match-winner.

I think that man is Wayne Rooney. If this team is to really improve after Ronaldo leaves, then I think Wayne Rooney must improve. He is, as many United fans know, the heart of the United team at the moment. If Ronaldo was the player who finished a move, it was often Rooney who started it.

I remember at the start of the preseason that Sir Alex Ferguson was saying how this season would be Rooney's. That because he would now have a proper preseason and more training under his belt before the start of the campaign, that we would finally see a sharper and more productive Rooney, and that he would outshine Ronaldo, who took all the plaudits the season before.

Unfortunately, only a game into the season, Michael Duberry stood on Rooney's foot and broke a metatarsal. Disaster. No Rooney, Carlos Tevez wasn't at United yet, and once again Saha was injured. 

So Fergie's prediction of Rooney taking all the headlines was right, but not in the way he expected, I'm sure.

Ok, I'm being unfair, because once he recovered from the injury he did find a rich vein of form, hitting nine goals in nine appearances for both club and country, and things looked good again. His most memorable performance in this time came against Aston Villa, where he scored twice after United went one nil down to a Gabriel Agbonglahor goal.

Then yet again injury struck, in the form of an ankle injury, and he never seemed to find that rich vein again. When I attended the reverse fixture against Villa at Old Trafford, a man beside me decided to remind me that Rooney hadn't scored a league goal at Old Trafford since October, and this being March well things weren't too good for Rooney in front of goal at that time...obviously.

However, he went on to score twice in that game.

And it's moments like that which remind me that Rooney can easily lead United's attack while Ronaldo decides to don the white shirt of Madrid. When the cards are down and people doubt his ability, Rooney steps up. No-one will say Rooney isn't a big game player. We know he is. Ask Liverpool, Arsenal, or Chelsea fans. Ask AC Milan and Roma fans.

Rooney can be potent in front of goal if he is played in the right position and he starts to take his chances more efficiently. And those are the two major problems with Rooney, aren't they? Either he isn't in the right position and can't affect a game the way he does best, or when he gets the chance to affect it, he misses.

Hopefully if United purchase target man, say in the form of Roque Santa Cruz or  Klauss Jan Huntelaar, then Rooney can finally play where he is supposed to play, in the hole behind the striker(s). This way he will affect the game more, his link up play will improve, and hopefully he can make more of those dangerous one-two's with Tevez—like against Middlesbrough—and find himself in front of goal more.

Hopefully his finishing can also improve too. Too often this season he has fluffed one on one's and blasted too many sitters wide. Good chances don't come often, and he should take them more. When he does, I honestly believe he can make up 30 goals as well as his usual 10 to 15 assists.

If he can also improve his discipline he can become a "great" and finally live up to all the hype that surrounds him in the media.

Tevez has had big impact on Rooney's game and United's play in general, and I hope that they can form a ferocious partnership together. With Ronaldo's departure imminent, they now represent the attacking youth of Manchester United along with Nani, Anderson, Fraizer Campbell, and Danny Welbeck.

So come on Rooney, show them why we say Man United never dies. And hopefully next season when I'm sitting in the stands, no one will be mentioning that you haven't scored a goal at your home ground in six months.