I take absolutely zero pride in our academy producing players to win trophies for Manchester United.
Ah, who was saying that they take pride in an academy player of ours winning trophies for united? I was pointing out a fact. But it's OK, you can score some points by implying that I cracked a smile and shed a tear every time he slotted for United.
Because of longevity. He's played in this league every week for 15 years, meaning in football terms he is more like a 36 year old than a 31 year old. Hasn't been a consistent goalscorer for a few years now and by his own admission no longer has the legs to play as a centre forward.
And Shearer retired at the age of 36 after playing week in, week out in the league for just under 19 years... which by your logic would make Shearer more like a 43 old than a 36 year old when he hung up his boots. I know what you're getting at here and it's something commonly said among pundits but in reality - that's just speculation. Do you have a source for when Rooney said he no longer had the legs to play centre forward?
How is transferring to Everton going to bring his pace back? He would continue to underperform and we would have the same problems accomodating him in our team as United/England do. Man United fans are absolutely not going to be "sick" at stealing our most talented ever academy graduate at 18 years old, winning the lot with him, and spitting him back out to us at 31 when his legs have gone. Don't be daft.
Again, you're putting words in my mouth here mate. I said nothing about moving back to Everton making him faster - it's very easy to argue any topic if you're going to build straw men all over the place. When I said "the player he used to be", I mean exactly what has been said multiple times already in this thread - I feel that coming back to Everton would reinvigorate him and a driven player is a very different prospect to one that seems jaded. Yes, if Rooney came back and was utter crap, United fans would hardly miss him... but I'm working under the assumption that he would be a great player for us again (which is how I think he would do, I know you disagree but you don't have a monopoly on facts especially things that haven't happened yet) - you are working under the assumption that he would be worse than crap. So of course if you assume your outcome is the way it will be exactly - then you're right, united fans wouldn't be 'sick'. The point is moot though - unless you're saying that if he came back and was a success that united fans wouldn't care, that would be an argument against what I said.
