The rumors linking Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney with Paris St-Germain continue to gather momentum, with a former PSG club official claiming the deal is already “done”.
Michel Moulin, who was an advisor at PSG in 2008, said on French television that Rooney was heading to the Parc des Princes in the summer.
“I announce to you from trusted sources – Rooney to PSG is done. He will be at PSG next season” Moulin said on Le Sport 10.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has previously expressed his interest in signing the United and England star saying:
‘He is a great player, he is one of the best strikers in the world. I think everyone would like to have him but if you want to talk about the fact, we didn’t approach him.’
Interesting in the last week or so we have seen PSG players come out in support of Rooney moving to Paris. Striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic said he’d like to see the Rooney linking up with him at PSG next year, saying:
“If he wants to be part of the best project in football then there is only one club to sign for.”
The PSG charm offensive continued with defender Thiago Silva saying:
“If he is thinking of a new challenge there is no better place to be than here.”
Players don’t come out and make statements like that unless it part of an orchestrated campaign to get a player.
The writing has been on the wall at United for a while know that Rooney was on his way out of Old Trafford despite Sir Alex Ferguson’s statements to the contrary.
I wrote last month that Paris Saint Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic had been linked with a move to Juventus and that deal would have a domino effect with Rooney going to PSG and Cristiano Ronaldo to Man United.
The rumours last week suggest that United have landed Atletico Madrid’s Radamel Falcao for potentially €40m plus Javier Hernandez.
I don’t see a Falcao deal ending United’s interest in Ronaldo. From a financial standpoint, Rooney is United’s highest wage earner, so replacing his wages with those of Falcao’s is in essence a straight swap. And with the added revenue United has gotten for selling the naming rights to its training ground plus the added revenue from the new TV deal, United could add Ronaldo without putting their wage bill over 50% of turnover.
It’s a long way until August 31st when the transfer window closes, but United fans will be dreaming of an attacking force of Kagawa, Ronaldo, van Persie and Falcao. That would be as good as anyone in Europe never mind the Premier League.
