Rooney hands in transfer request.

smemon

on bbc teletext (pg 303) that rooney has handed in transfer request, n'castle thought to be leading the race at this stage.

on skysports too: http://skysports.planetfootball.com/list.asp?hlid=222403&cpid=8&CLID=&lid=2&title=ROONEY'S+TRANSFER+REQUEST

Washout

well its about time that Rooney has made his intentions clear.

As an evertonian i will of course be sad to see him go but to be honest a world class young player needs to be constatly playing on world class stages year in year out. He will get that at Man U as I reckon they will get him. Hopefully the fee that we get for him will help strengthen our squad with a few good players to at least keep us midtable for this season.

I also reckon that the 6 million that magically appeared last night was a cash down payment from united on rooney. There is major secrecy surrounding theis money.

Dub13

'Once a blue, always a blue - or at least until a better offer comes along'

I'm sure Djimi Troare will soften the blow!

TwoShedsJackson

A true blue Evertonian or not, he has to be realistic about his career. If Man U and Newcastle have an equal offer in that's accepted he'll be off to Man U. He knows Everton are unlikely to win anything in the next decade (at least).

Dub13

Rooney,
"The Everton fans have always been fantastic in their support of me. I hope they respect my decision and I also hope that some day in the future I could be welcomed back to watch the team I have supported since boyhood."

Dub13

Evertonfc.com is down for routine maintenance... :eek:

The Rooster

My bet is he goes to ManU for 20m.

I'd guess than ManU tapped him up before they made their made, to make sure that he'd prefer to go to them rather than Newky.

It doesnt matter that Newky bid higher, if Rooney says he's not going to them. And Everton can point to the fact that United are giving them more cash up front.

The final piece of the jigsaw is Rooney handing in a transfer request, which (to the best of my knowledge) means that Everton dont have to give him a payoff on leaving, as they would have to do for a player that hadnt made a request. So that means the bid is worth an extra 1m or 2m to Everton.

All just opinions. Could well be proved completely wrong shortly!

Dub13

I would say Man You aswell as he will not have to move house,watch out for Van the man leaving at the end of the season.

_blank_

Hadn't heard about that "magic 6 million" myself, but it does seem strange.

I think he will go to United, he has said that he wants to play "at the highest" level, and Newcastle do not fulfil that criterion with being in the UEFA cup. United are in the Championa League, which is pretty much the highest level. This and the fact that Moyes was at Old Trafford the other night.

Also the fact that he handed in the transfer request, as pointed out already, means Everton won't be renegaging on the contract, so no payoff for him, so he'll go cheaper.

But one thing is certain, he will be gone by Tuesday.

smemon

saha, van nistelrooy, smith, rooney: would that be the best strikeforce in the world?

rooneys over-rated and hugely overpriced but i like to see british players in a side, it gives the side stablility and aggresion unlike say veron, or continental players. you know what you get and they'll always give 110%.

if only duff or nesta/cannavaro could be brought in instead. 4 1st team strikers isnt really needed unless 3 of them play. surprised chelsea havnt made an offer like 50m or something. weren't they interested at one stage?

_blank_

smemon wrote:

saha, van nistelrooy, smith, rooney: would that be the best strikeforce in the world?

Probably.

smemon wrote:

4 1st team strikers isnt really needed unless 3 of them play.

I beg to differ here, look at the strikeforce United had in '99. Cole, Yorke, Solskjaer and Sheringham. They played in a 4-4-2, and only two at a time.

I think teams need 4 first choice strikers to do well, and with Solskjaer looking crocked for the season, then Rooney wouldn't be a bad addition to the squad.

SteM

Well one things for sure, if RVN was complaining at the end of last season about United not having enough backup for goal scoring, that won't be the case if they sign Rooney. United have Everton at home on Monday, what are the chances of him being announced as a United player before that match?

Agreed with seansouth, there is no harm at all in United having 4 top class strikers at the club given the amount of games they would expect to play in a season. If Ruud does move on at some point in the near future then the 3 we'd be left with may soften the blow a little.

Is there a chance that he might end signing for Newcastle though?

cournioni

I would prefer we got a left winger. We really don't need another striker, we do need competition for Giggs though.

Lex Luthor

I liked Mourinho's answer yesterday when he was asked about Rooney going to Man U and they would have 4 top strikers. In his typical arrogant fashion he replies, "they can only play 2 at a time".

The press doing their best to crack this guy in front of the camera..

PHB

It's funny coming from a Chelsea manager consider they can only play 2 at a time in all their other main positions yet have 70 people for each

I am not unhappy about this move, but I ain't happy either.
Firstly I don't think hes worth 20 mill, I'd love to be proved wrong obviously
Secondly I really really like Saha and feel that he won't be given the time he needs to develop into an amazing player.
Thirdly I think we need players in different areas, a real replacement for Keano in the centre with Scholes, and a left winger to chalange for Giggsesy spot.
And I also think we need a new keeper, which I don't tend to get a lot of support from.
Howard is good and is developing but I want a keeper with better handling, he gives away too many goals because of his handling and that just ain't acceptable

Either way, good for Everton, good for Rooney, not 100% sure abotu good for United.
On the plus side he hates liverpool too

smemon

yeah of course its nice to have 4 quality strikers but murinho is right, you can only play 2 at a time.

theres no point buying another striker when the money would be best spent in midfield or defence, were not real madrid here.

competition is good but i think having 4 top class strikers would lead to one or more leaving over time which isnt good.

having said that id still love to see rooney at utd, purely because he'd add to the future and imo he's a carbon copy of alan shearer.

SteM

Lex Luthor wrote:

I liked Mourinho's answer yesterday when he was asked about Rooney going to Man U and they would have 4 top strikers. In his typical arrogant fashion he replies, "they can only play 2 at a time".

I think he'll find if he looks at his rule book that a team can play 10 outfield players. They can ALL be strikers if the manager wants, so they to say "they can only play 2 at a time" is BS. If he's going to be arrogant he should at least get his facts straight

yop

We do not need him, waste of money, not work 1/2 it. Prefer to get Duff and other centre half and a central midfield to replace Dj x 2.

Mourinho will crack yet, is he another Kevin Keegan "I'd luv it if we beat them"

smemon

PHB wrote:

And I also think we need a new keeper, which I don't tend to get a lot of support from.
Howard is good and is developing but I want a keeper with better handling, he gives away too many goals because of his handling and that just ain't acceptable

howard's handling is his strongest asset id say! he's one of the top keepers when it comes to low bouncing rocket shots, he never spills them. he's perhaps not a schmeichael but youd struggle to find a better keeper around.

PHB

I miss Schmeichael.
He doesn't handle free kicks well, game in game out when the free kicks comes in he'll get to it, but when he blocks it down he lets it spill.
When its low its easier to hold on to because his entire body is behind it but high shots he spills a bit.

jesus_thats_gre

United are insane buying him.. The front line is the strongest part of the United team at the moment with big holes in the midfield and defence.. The midfield was always United's main asset and is not one of the weakest of all the big clubs.

smemon

PHB wrote:

I miss Schmeichael.

lol, who doesnt?! fa cup semi final '99. but howard has been far better than anything since the great dane. with ferdinand coming back and heinz coming in he wont look so bad as they'll cut out the nonsense at the back. (hopefully)

best combination of those 4 strikers: van nistelrooy/ rooney? smith/rooney would be interesting, 2 hard men up front. arsenal dont have keown anymore to protect them.

_blank_

Well, could you maybe suggest a 'keeper to sign, who would feasibly join Manchester United.

Someone mentioned earlier that if Rooney comes in, then one of the other three could possibly leave.

Well, if Leeds come back up, didn't Smith say that he'd love to go back to them, problem solved.

Someone said they miss Schmeichel, I miss Cantona and Hughes and Robson, but there is no way either will be replaced at Manchester United, and I'll miss Keano when he's gone. I'm sure if I'd have seen him play I'd miss Best too.

mike65

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

The midfield was always United's main asset and is now one of the weakest of all the big clubs.

I agree, not that I should be interested mind! I'd spend what ever Utd have to spare on the midfield this season.

Mike.

Iago

GK Howard
RB Neville G
CB Ferdinand
CB Silvestre
LB Heinze
RM Smith/Ronaldo
CM Keane
CM Scholes
LM Ronaldo/Giggs
ST Van Nistlerooy
ST Rooney

Subs:
Carroll
Neville P
Saha
Fletcher/miller
ronaldo/giggs/smith

Not too bad but badly lacking in strength in depth, O'Shea will play a peripheral role this year I think (and may even move). I'd like to see them buy cover for a defensive midfielder in the Keane mould but can't think of anyone off-hand and as much as I hate to say it P Neville has done ok in there when required.

A good goalkeeping cover would be nice as well..still well behind Arsenal and Chelsea in terms of squad depth though

Drag00n79

Article from today's (Liverpool) Daily Post:

WAYNE ROONEY is believed to favour a move to Newcastle if he leaves Everton.

The teenager's camp is said to have expressed a preference for St James' Park this week - despite the draw of Manchester United.

A new increased bid from Old Trafford could still change the mind of Rooney and his advisors, but as it stands he prefers a switch to the North East.

The Blues have all but resigned themselves to losing the 18-year-old after he made it clear during a series of meetings this week that he no longer wanted to play at Goodison.

David Moyes is determined not to sell the England international on the cheap.

He has already turned down three bids for the player from Newcastle and Man United.

However, a proposed £25 million offer which would also include a player, believed to be David Bellion, from Manchester United would receive a more positive response as it would bring the Old Trafford club to within touching distance of Moyes' £30m price tag.

The stumbling block for any move to Manchester would be the players apparent preference to play for the Magpies.

Bobby Robson had a £23.5m bid turned down yesterday and reports in the north east suggest Freddy Shepherd is unwilling to go much further in the bidding war.

It was Newcastle that began the race for Rooney's signature with a £20m offer on Monday and, despite the promise of Champions League football in Manchester, Rooney is tempted by a move north.

The whole saga is further complicated by Manchester United's insistence on making all agents fees public.

Source: http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0400evertonfc/0100news/tm_objectid=14578499%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=roon%2dwants%2dtoon-name_page.html

cournioni

So he's taking the easier option going to Newcastle... Well I hope he enjoys playing in the UEFA cup. He's just another Shearer. Fuck em...

MisterAnarchy

I hope Man Utd dont buy him as he is ridiculously overated.
Emperors new clothes syndrome something United seem to have a penchant for.

PHB

Can anyone tell me any reason why Rooney should be considered better than Saha?
Look at last season, Saha completely outpreformed Rooney.
Saha got a couple of runs in the french squad and was very good in Euro

Granted Rooney was very good in the euro champs, but that was 4 matches.
Why would Rooney get his game ahead of Saha?
Hopefully he'll go to Newcaslte, and become another Shearer
Shearer made the biggest mistake of his carreer and went to Newcastle thinking he could win it all with them (also he hates united afaik) Alas he made the wrong choice, oppsies.
Will Rooney make it? I kinda hope so
20 mill could be spent on Duffers

United imo have a very good midfield when all of them can play

Giggs - Keane - Scholes - Ronaldo

But because of the current problems scholes is up front and Keane is at the back.
Keane needs to be replaced, fergie knows this and is trying his dammdest.

Miller - Fletcher - Kelberson - DD are all there as backups, yet none of them seem to be amazing yet, although I think DD is doing very well lately.

I know Giggs ain't what he used to be but againist Norwich I felt he was very very good, and showing signs of his old self

dirkey_wynne

PORNAPSTER wrote:

I would prefer we got a left winger. We really don't need another striker, we do need competition for Giggs though.

Spot on, I agree totally. I think Duff is the man we should be after. Short term he could play up front and ease the pressure a bit. He can play on either flank also, though obviously is much better on the left. We need a creative spark in the midfield more so than a new striker imho, and I feel we'd get two players with signing Duff - the Duffman and also a rejuvenated Giggsy, spurred on by the competition.

dirkey_wynne

PHB wrote:

It's funny coming from a Chelsea manager consider they can only play 2 at a time in all their other main positions yet have 70 people for each

I am not unhappy about this move, but I ain't happy either.
Firstly I don't think hes worth 20 mill, I'd love to be proved wrong obviously
Secondly I really really like Saha and feel that he won't be given the time he needs to develop into an amazing player.
Thirdly I think we need players in different areas, a real replacement for Keano in the centre with Scholes, and a left winger to chalange for Giggsesy spot.
And I also think we need a new keeper, which I don't tend to get a lot of support from.
Howard is good and is developing but I want a keeper with better handling, he gives away too many goals because of his handling and that just ain't acceptable

Either way, good for Everton, good for Rooney, not 100% sure abotu good for United.
On the plus side he hates liverpool too

I agree with a lot of what you say here. Though I feel Smith could lose out slightly if Rooney comes in, and I've seriously taken to the daft Yorkshire git! I think Rooney will improve the team if he comes in, definitely, but I really think as you say we should be strengthening in other areas - as I've said in an earlier post left wing is a priority.

I also totally agree with you on the Howard factor. I've totally lost faith in him. It started to go after the Wolves and Porto games last year, but this year he's cost us goals consecutively. Chelsea he was atrocious in his attempt to deal with that. Dinamo away, woeful. Norwich again shot straight at him. So yeah, I agree with you on that one.

Boro

Howard is still a better goalkeeper than Lehmann IMO.

I dont really see Fergie playing Rooney up front like a striker - more in the attacking midfield role that he tried Scholes in so much over the last season or two. I think he would excel in that role with the amount of space that would be created around him by the strikers in front of him.

Big Ears

United fans : Rooney's a god and would be the best player ever if he came here .
United fans after hearing rumours that Rooney would prefer to go to Neacastle : He's crap , id rather we sign Dougie Freedman than him , at least he's a proven goalscorer in The Championship .

warning: may be exagerating .

Well something in the choice may be with Keane saying if United don't win the League this year they could do a Liverpool and not win the League for 14 years(and counting) .

Newcastle may be in the UEFA Cup , but it is the first time in 4 years they have not had Champions League football .(third qualifying round counts as Champions League )

I swear all United fans hate players that don't want to join they're club .
I suppose its because of Roy Keanes idea that all players that don't want to join United need their head examined :rolleyes: and yee don't like crazy players :rolleyes: .

dirkey_wynne

smemon wrote:

lol, who doesnt?! fa cup semi final '99. but howard has been far better than anything since the great dane. with ferdinand coming back and heinz coming in he wont look so bad as they'll cut out the nonsense at the back. (hopefully)

See I don't think we've been that bad at the back this year. Look at the game against Norwich - how many times did they really penetrate the defensive line? Once - apart from a 35 yard shot that you can't really legislate for. And when they did breach the defence, the shot was straight at him and he left it in. Same in the Chelsea game - they rarely breached and when they did his effort to get to the ball as Gudjohnsen came in was schoolboy like.

Mighty_Mouse

Lads, I agree that Duff is class but why would United want to buy another Ronnie Johnson for 20mil!!

smemon

dirkey_wynne wrote:

Same in the Chelsea game - they rarely breached and when they did his effort to get to the ball as Gudjohnsen came in was schoolboy like.

and in the same game he blocked drogba 1 on 1 which people forget. shessh, nobodys perfect, i think we'll allow him the odd mistake. he's no fabien barthez or massimo taibi.

even the great dane himself was prone to the odd error.

emertoff

Dub13 wrote:

Evertonfc.com is down for routine maintenance... :eek:

Were you born with an innate ability to be annoying or do you have to work at it? There is a distinct air of twisting the knife with a lot of your posts, unless they happen to glorify LFC or speculate on their latest Spanish signing.

cournioni

Big Ears wrote:

United fans : Rooney's a god and would be the best player ever if he came here .
United fans after hearing rumours that Rooney would prefer to go to Neacastle : He's crap , id rather we sign Dougie Freedman than him , at least he's a proven goalscorer in The Championship .

I think that most United fans would agree that we don't need Rooney. We really, really do need a left winger if we want to win the big titles this season. Rooney doesn't guarantee us winning anything.

You're right, we don't like players that choose other clubs over us, especially the likes of Shearer. The amount of crap he came out with when he moved to Newcastle was insulting to United. "A team that will be in Europe every year" my ass.

gandalf

Yep as an neutral (ok then I'm not I am a Gooners fan!) I think ManURE are mad buying Rooney. That money would be better spent strentening their midfield and defense. When you get Van Horseface and Saha back you will have 3 international standard strikers to choose from.

This is more than likely Keanes last season and even at that it looks like he is going to be picking up injuries more often than not. Kleberson has not established himself and unless Djemba Djemba starts to gain more authority the United Midfield will be seriously lacking.

Rooney is a luxury United can do without.

gandalf

Oh and I really cannot understand Newcastle here either. They just sold their best Defender (by a long shot) and they are now buying Rooney. Has he got some defensive skills we haven't seen yet ?

Big Ears

PORNAPSTER wrote:

I think that most United fans would agree that we don't need Rooney. We really, really do need a left winger if we want to win the big titles this season. Rooney doesn't guarantee us winning anything.

I agree United don't need him , its just some people loved him one minute , and as soon as they see that article they hate him , and the article was only a rumour .

If Man United have £20 million to spend , I would sugest on using some of it to buy Vicente fron Valencia , that would sort you're left winger problem , without buying a player that could be injury-prone .The guy is one of the best wingers in the world and probably the best left-sided one .

For crying out loud why won't someone buy Paulo Cannavaro to sort out they're defencive problems .

Italian football is a mess and Parma aren't exactly loaded , a World Class centre half for less than £10 million sounds good to me .
especially one that will probably move to any club in a big league with UEFA Cup football or better .

PHB

em big ears, who said that before it was stated that newcastle was his preference?
you sure you didn't just ya know make it up and assume tahts what united supporters did?

Dub13

emertoff wrote:

Were you born with an innate ability to be annoying or do you have to work at it? There is a distinct air of twisting the knife with a lot of your posts, unless they happen to glorify LFC or speculate on their latest Spanish signing.

I do not need two twisting the knife your "boy wounder" is doing it.

I dont just post on Liverpool...do you not think its abit funny the club site being down on a big day for them.You need to chill out and relax a bit.

Big Ears

PHB wrote:

em big ears, who said that before it was stated that newcastle was his preference?
you sure you didn't just ya know make it up and assume tahts what united supporters did?

look at Shamrock's post on page 2 , look at Sky Sports News , look at some English papers .

You're alwyas accusing me of saying stiff without presenting the facts .
I think you've a personnel grudge against me .

The Muppet

I would love to see Rooney go to United. I agree united have more need to strengthen the midfield in the short term but players like Rooney don't become available very often and I think United should sign him for the long term .

If they do sign Rooney I think Ruud will be sold next summer and United will recoup the Rooney fee to spend on strengthening the midfield with young players. Giggs needs to have competition but I would not like to see united buy Duffers because of his injury situation unless they got him on the cheap. Keano has to be replaced and I don't think they can do that with any of the current squad unless Djemba Djemba who has played well of late continues to improve .

United are in transition and while there are more immediate pressing needs than a striker I think in Fergies long term plan to build a new young team Rooney must feature pretty highly on his wish list.

Fergie sees Rooney as the new Shearer and sacrifising a league challenge for a season or two may be a price he is willing to pay if he believes in the long term he will end up with a young team capable of emmulating the class of the 99.

PHB

So what you have is one person posting on page 2, which appears to entirely be a quote from an article
You have Sky Sports news, which you don't seem to explain. I wasn't sure that Sky sports was a united suporter but hey what do I know.
And you have "some english tabloids"
You still havn't shown me anywhere where any Man Utd fan said anything like what you said they said.
It still appears you just made it up

I know me being silly accusing you of never having anything to back up my statements.
Opps

HacksawEddie

smemon wrote:

saha, van nistelrooy, smith, rooney: would that be the best strikeforce in the world?

i think you might find that raul, ronaldo, morientes and owen are sligtly better than that!

as a barca fan, i dont like it, but ronaldo is one of only 2 players who won the fifa world player of the year award 3 times (the other of course being his teammare ZiZu) as well as being 2 time eufa player of the year. mikey also won the award.
i know this doesnt neccesarily make them the best, but come on...
they're better than the man u front line!
thankfully (hopefully) they'll only play 2 of the 4 at once!

Big Ears

PHB wrote:

So what you have is one person posting on page 2, which appears to entirely be a quote from an article
You have Sky Sports news, which you don't seem to explain. I wasn't sure that Sky sports was a united suporter but hey what do I know.
And you have "some english tabloids"
You still havn't shown me anywhere where any Man Utd fan said anything like what you said they said.
It still appears you just made it up

I know me being silly accusing you of never having anything to back up my statements.
Opps

ah , at first I thought you were talking about who said he prefered Newcastle .
But you see there this one thing called the real world (tm) and I actually know United fans in this place :eek: , plus did you see the small print in the post ? .

I tells ya you got a grudge against me .

Seaneh

smemon wrote:

saha, van nistelrooy, smith, rooney: would that be the best strikeforce in the world?

Raul, Owen, Ronaldo, Morientes.

Shevchenko, Inzaghi, Crespo, Tomasson.

Del Piero, Di Vaio, Trezeguet, Miccoli.

Henry, Bergkamp, Reyes, Van Persie.

All better than the afforementioned combo.

smemon

Seaneh wrote:

Raul, Owen, Ronaldo, Morientes.

Shevchenko, Inzaghi, Crespo, Tomasson.

Del Piero, Di Vaio, Trezeguet, Miccoli.

Henry, Bergkamp, Reyes, Van Persie.

All better than the afforementioned combo.

if you live in cuckoo land. come on the italians are 1 hit wonders that are too inconsistent, the arsenal 4some, well 1 has barely played a game in england plus 1 isnt an out an out striker.

madrid are up there allright.

Seaneh

smemon wrote:

if you live in cuckoo land. come on the italians are 1 hit wonders that are too inconsistent, the arsenal 4some, well 1 has barely played a game in england plus 1 isnt an out an out striker.

madrid are up there allright.

Shevchenko isn't consistant?
Inzaghi isn't consistant?
Tomasson isn't consistant?
Crespo isn't consistant?

All four of those strikers have amazing strike rates, Shevchenko blows just about every player in europe out of the water when it come to consistantly scoring 20+ goals a season in the league, Inzaghi's strike rate at milan is even better than van bastens, Crespo has only once failed to score more than 20 goals in season in the last 8 years, and that was because he was un fit and under played.

As for tomasson, he has been one of the best players in the last two major international tournyments, and he has a scoring record about 1 goal every 2 and a bit games since he joined milan.

Saha is the ultimate one hit wonder and shrek is the most over rated player since Darren Anderton in the 90's.