Sir Alex Ferguson Masterstroke

In the end, it was probably one of the best outcomes even though Man U fans are still seething with anger. Tying Wayne Rooney down to a new five year contract at £180,000/week appears like a weird decision but let me explain.

Rooney has a £5mio buyout clause in his previous contract which allowed him to pay just that and be free to go to another team. That leaves Man U with next to nothing in investment returns after six years with the boy if they just let him up and go.

Somehow, SAF managed to convince him that bailing out of Man U now wasn't a good option. Particularly since it probably isn't worth the mountain of hate he would receive from fans if he remained in England. Nor was Rooney certain that any club would pay the £200,000/week or more the greedy bugger was asking for. Sure there was Chelsea and Man City who might have been able to shell out those figures, but he'd have a mountain of pressure on his shoulders and less certainty to be the star of those star studded teams. So how about a compromise?

Brilliant.

Now with the contract signed and dusted, Rooney has two choices.

1)Play like crap and suck until the end of the season, thereby SAF giving him less and less playing time, and then he gets sold for £40mio or something to the highest bidder where Man U fans would long be happy to see him go. Or.

2)Regain his crazy form last season and win a small portion of fans hearts, then still get sold in the summer for maybe £50mio, and no one will fault Fergie still.

Either way, it costs the club less than £10mio to keep him here and we still get return on investment.

Winner.