Is Wayne Rooney holding Manchester United and himself back as captain?

There are many ways to introduce yourself to the footballing world but little will top what a 16 year old Wayne Rooney did. That curling venomous shot into the back of the Arsenal net ending their 30 game unbeaten run will take some beating. The quality of the goal suggested that football fans would “remember the name” and so it has proved. The Liverpool born striker has gone on to captain both club and country, win the champions league and looks set to become Manchester United and England’s leading goal scorer. Despite all this it can be argued that Rooney’s days as captain of Manchester United or even his days at Old Tarfford altogether could be numbered.

After the European championships in 2004 Rooney was the subject of praise from many corners, including his own England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson who said 'I don't remember anyone making such an impact since Pele in the 1958 World Cup ... Rooney's absolutely fantastic, not only at scoring goals but he plays football - he's a complete footballer' High praise indeed. It was the most intoxicating time to be an England fan since Euro 1996.  A player with a natural swagger and power terrorising some of Europe’s best defenders. A swagger that has gradually diminished year by year as he has adapted his game in order to accommodate those around him. The question is has the “White Pele” fulfilled his massive potential which would put him at the very elite of the beautiful game? Does he belong in the same argument as players such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo? Manchester United fans see their club as the biggest in the world so they may find the reality of the situation may be difficult to take. The reality is that the club captain go longer belongs in the argument of who is the best player in the world? Many would argue he is not even in the top ten strikers.

In the season that has just passed Rooney like club has had an underwhelming time. Like club, the season was not one of vintage football for the England skipper. Instead the club achieved qualification to the Champions League simple because the challenge from below was the equivalent of a meal you would refuse to pay for at a restaurant. In a season where 16 of Rooney’s first 26 appearances came in a variety of deeper roles it is clear Louis Van Gaal does not see Rooney as the striker to lead Manchester United to former glories. It is possible that Paul Scholes was correct when he said last year that Rooney’s peak “could have been when he was 26.” In that season he scored 35 goals, by far the best return for a single season in his career. Compare that to former teammate Ronaldo who has averaged around the 50 goal mark since leaving Manchester for the Spanish capital.

 It is not a new situation since the arrival of Louis Van Gaal that Rooney would play a deeper role, in fact Sir Alex Ferguson often played the often controversial striker out of position in order to accommodate the other attacking talent at the club. In the latter moments of Ronaldo’s career at Manchester United in was Ronaldo who played centrally despite arriving to Old Trafford as a winger while Rooney was often left on the wing scampering after onrushing full backs. It can be argued that was due to Ronado being the best player of his generation. The frustrating thing for the Englishman is that it has happened twice since. So often was Rooney dropped into the number 10 role or the wing to accommodate strikers such as the forever classy Dimitar Berbatov and one of the clubs greatest ever finishers in Robin Van Persie. It his perhaps only David Moyes who ever built the team around the former Everton man, a  season that was easily the clubs worst since the formation of the Premier League.

With that, we reach a place where you wonder, is Wayne Rooney an automatic starter at club level and with that comes the question should he be captain? The club may find itself in a place like they had with Gary Neville where the captain does not start every week but when he does he wears the armband. A situation that seems unlikely after quotes from the manager Louis Van Gaal earlier this season, in which he said that making Rooney captain made him near impossible to drop. This along with Rooney signing a contract extension last season that will keep him at the club until 2019, manager and club alike have backed themselves into a corner for a player who did not put in a single performance of note in the last three too four months of the season. A fact only put into the spotlight further by the encouraging performance of Robin Van Persie against West Brom last May.

The next two questions are quite damming on the English man. First of all does he deserve to be captain in the first place and secondly was he only made captain out of lack of choice? Real Madrid’s pursuit has being one of football’s worst kept secrets and with that has come the inevitable departure of club captain Iker Casillas. To make sure they got their way the serial cup winner has being booed by many corners of the Santiago Bernabeu crowd. This has caused uproar amongst many Manchester United fans. As they support a club’s whose history is based on loyal servants such as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville. This is all well and good but surly if United fans have such a problem with how a loyal player like Casillas is being treated by the fans, how can these same fans accept a captain who has tried to leave the club twice. Worse again trying to force a move from your current club for your neighbours Manchester City, arguable Manchester United’s biggest rivals. Respect is a two way thing. Fans to players and players to fans. From a historic and moral ground the evidence would suggest that Rooney is an undeserving captain. So why is he the captain of the England’s richest club?

The answer is straight forward for many.  There was simply no other viable option at the time. It’s like going on holiday to a place you don’t want to go because you know if you don’t you won’t get to go anywhere else for the summer. If you looked at it now Chris Smalling may feel he would have being is in with a shout, but at the time the former Fulham and Maidstone man has on a tightrope with many fans. Robin Van Persie was the early favourite for the role after captaining Louis Van Gaal’s Holland side to the last four of the world cup. Unfortunately for him after a long summer and lack of preseason the Dutchman had little chance to show his influence in the changing room. This finally leaves Michael Carrick. A player who has gone about his job at Manchester United with little fuss on or off the pitch. But at the age of 33 it would be unrealistic to expect the former Tottenham to play every week. Again I come back to that quote, Louis Van Gaal wants his captain to always be in the side. So with all that in mind there was little choice.

If club and fans alike are okay with the morals grounds of Rooney staying as captain maybe they should look at the practical side. Has Rooney fulfilled his media commitments to a high standard? YES.  Has he had drama in the public eye? Only a little. Where the biggest problem comes is on the pitch. Rooney was often criticised as a striker for coming too deep to often and now he has a similar problem. When watching games it feels like Rooney spends more time getting in the ear of both his teammates and the referee than getting in the box and scoring goals.  The concept can baffle me at times, but sometimes you can do a job too well but this is one example. It is like Rooney is so concerned with his role as captain that he ignores his own role as the striker on the pitch. Like a hard working mother doing such a good job looking after her children that she forgets to care for her own health and social life. With this added responsibility Rooney’s game has lacked passion conviction and purpose.

Will Wayne Rooney’s goals  be able to lead Manchester United to their 4^th European Cup? His goal return of 14 would suggest not. Messi had 58 for Barcelona. Ronaldo scored 61 for Real Madrid. Lewandowski had 25 and Tevez had 29 for Bayern Munich and Juventus respectively. Will such a poor goal return and the player looking impossible droppable where will the club turn? Will the Liverpool born striker produce another 35 goal season. If he dosen’t it could be many years before the club has any hopes of catching clubs such as Liverpool, Barcelona and Real in terms of how many European cups they win.

Stripping Rooney of the captaincy would cause uproar on and off the pitch. So hat is the solution. I never thought I would say this but maybe the club should copy the Real Madrid model to reduce the pressure on Rooney. There was a point in 2010 where the La Liga runners up had four captains at once, they were Iker Casillas, Guti, Rual and current Manchester United target Sergio Ramos. Could sharing the role between Wayne Rooney, Chris Smalling, Michael Carrick and Robin Van Persie for example be the solution? It is not a hypothesis that has being tested often but maybe just maybe a solution to a problem that will only become more evident as time goes on.