Wayne Rooney Transfer Saga: How Will Manchester United Fare Without Wayne?

Since signing with United in 2004, Wayne Rooney has become an international star. Earning 67 caps and scoring 26 goals for England before the age of 25 speaks for itself. Equally impressive are his 92 Manchester United goals in just over five seasons.

Coming off his most successful season ever—he scored 34 goals for United last season—Wayne Rooney's stock had never been higher. As the World Cup approached, the   24-year-old carried England's hopes for a successful World Cup on his shoulders. Unfortunately, he was unable to deliver, as were the rest of the England team, and England were sent packing by a far superior German side.

Maybe he wasn't fully fit, or maybe he just wasn't on form. Either way, since an injury in March last year, we haven't seen the same Wayne Rooney we've been used to.

The situation was much the same at the start of this season. Struggling for form, Rooney has managed to find the back of the net just once, through a penalty. Problems in his personal life can't have helped matters, and soon enough Wayne snapped, saying he hadn't been injured all season. The whole story quickly came out and it turned out that Rooney had decided not to sign a new contract shortly after the World Cup.

Rooney looks all set to leave. He can't have many friends in the dressing room, and Fergie is less than impressed by Rooney being disloyal to the club and effectively accusing the manger of lying.

The question of when Rooney leaves however, is problematic. He could leave in the January transfer window given that it's unlikely that he has any desire to stay at a club that has gone from loving him to hating him in a very short space of time. He could be forced to remain at United if nobody is willing to stump up the reported £80 million asking price. This seems unlikely as Rooney is a very desirable player to have on your team, whatever his personal failings may be.

The problem is, Rooney is cup-tied as far as the Champions League goes this season, something that will have to bring United's valuation of the striker down. This is an idea especially unpopular for a club that recorded a loss of £80 million last year. They may have to hang on to Rooney until the summer or possibly loan him out until then if they wish to get a full price for the striker.

His position at United looks unsustainable. There is no reason for Fergie to play a player who wants out, especially when there are young players coming through the ranks who could really do with game time. A loan move would work well, if anybody was willing to take him for the remainder of the season. If a loan move can't be arranged, both Rooney and United will lose out: Rooney in terms of the size of contract he will be able to negotiate, and United in terms of the amount of money they will get to either replace Rooney or help to control the rampant debt that some are predicting could sink one of the World's top clubs.

If United choose not to replace Rooney, and instead focus on the players they already have at their disposal, they may have to wait a while before their next major title. Rooney has been vital in just about all of the Manchester club's triumphs since his arrival and their is no doubt that he will be sorely missed. But, if United are able to properly manage their up-and-coming players (they have 14 players under the age of 22), they will be in a very strong position within a few years.

United could go out and use the Rooney money to buy a top-quality replacement for Rooney—I don't know who that would be though—and carry on as if nothing had happened. This would help them keep up their current level of success in the short run, assuming the new player works out, but with players like Giggs and Scholes entering the final days of their careers, United may enter a lull in success regardless whether Rooney is replaced or not.

I reckon it would be far better for United to try and keep going without replacing Rooney, as some members of the squad believe is perfectly possible, and use the money to deal with the mounting debt. I can't actually work out how much debt United are in.

In January 2010 it was around £700 million, but a bond issue means that they won't have to pay much of this debt until 2017. However, United are happily acquiring more debt, despite having made a profit just once in the last six years. A spate of financial problems for smaller clubs like Portsmouth and Crystal Palace showed that the economic situation and poor financial management could really harm clubs. More recently, Liverpool have been in financial strife, a situation that must have got United worried given the similarities in size and prestige of the two clubs.

Rooney has said that he is leaving due to the club's lack of ambition and ability to sign top-quality players. By coming out and saying that, Rooney has lessened the chance of United being able to sign such top players, while his leaving will do much the same, especially when Ronaldo's transfer saga is taken into account.

Will United be OK without their star striker? Probably.

The thing is, in football, you never know. There is no way that the loss of one of the World's top players won't take a bit of getting used to. However, with Berbatov seemingly settled, Hernandez getting into English football remarkably quickly and Macheda improving, United are far from short of talent up front.

Maybe the dominance United have achieved in the past shouldn't be expected for a while, but United are in a very good position to build for the future, as far as events on the field are concerned.