Wayne Rooney: Ambitious Professional or Money-Grabbing Stereotype?

Just when we thought we had found the one world-class footballer who wouldn’t be driven by money and fame…a hooker and a transfer request burst onto the scene.

Wayne Rooney was the golden child of English football, a man who we were all able to associate with and relate to on a personal level. He had come from almost nothing in a working class background, he played football on the streets of Croxteth Liverpool, he married Coleen his teenage sweetheart, he had his first baby earlier this year and of course he was regarded as one of the few top players playing football for the love of the game and the will to win.

The man they call Wazza was a refreshing change from his money-grabbing, prostitute-wielding, bar-fighting peers and we loved him for it. (OK, so he did have that incident with a hooker in his early days, but she was a grandmother. Even when paying for sex he was down to earth.)

Well, at least that was the way things were back in sunny June.

Wayne treated us to a string of woeful performances at the World Cup and we have since been led to believe that it was a result of worries about his private life as oh-so intrusive tabloids revealed he had numerous indiscretions with a high-class (and I use the term loosely) call girl.

Now, to top it all off, Manchester United—the biggest club in the world, the club that made him who he is, the club that worships the ground he walks on, the club that pay him £90,000 a week—are being cast aside for what has so far appeared to be no logical reason.

In May this year Rooney told his manager Sir Alex Ferguson that he would happily sign a contract to keep him at Old Trafford for the rest of his career; five months later, he wants out.

In an enthralling press conference on Tuesday, Sir Alex poured out his heart and, with the look of a broken-hearted father, explained that for reasons unbeknown to him, Wayne had decided to leave the Reds.

It was the first time in my lifelong interest in football that I have seen Alex Ferguson speak in the way he did on Tuesday. He seemed distracted and upset. It was a far cry from the defiant stance he took against the departures of big names like Jaap Stam, Roy Keane, David Beckham and Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

Even when Cristiano Ronaldo left the club, you got the impression from Fergie that things would be OK and they would cope. Back then he still had Rooney. Maybe this time he sensed there was no one to fall back on.

Returning to Rooney, I could fully understand this decision were he to whip out his castanets and join the Special One at Real Madrid or brush up on his bruschetta and head to Milan, in the hope of starting afresh to work on his marriage, but that seems to be plan B.

Apparently plan A is to hop on the 250 Bus Service and make his way across the city to Eastlands, pull on the light blue shirt of Manchester City, and feel the wrath of millions of football fans.

Unfortunately it’s starting to look all too familiar and it seems that the financial worries at Manchester United have worried Rooney to the point where he can no longer see a future at the club.

Some have argued that it’s ambition that has tempted Wayne Rooney away, but to paraphrase Mrs. Merton: ‘Wayne, what was it that first attracted you to a £250,000 a week offer from multi-billion pound club Manchester City?’