If Wayne Rooney’s performance against Chelsea proved anything, it was that Sir Alex Ferguson was right to omit the Manchester United forward from his starting line-up against Real Madrid last Tuesday.
Just when he needed an eight out of 10 performance, Rooney could do no better than a six. It was a missed opportunity to remind us all why he is United’s highest-paid player and the one who, despite his failings on the international stage, remains England’s talisman going into this month’s World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Montenegro.
Rooney will not be expected to fulfil more media obligations than his team-mates, the Football Association insisted in response to Ferguson’s claims that the player does too much commercial activity when he is on England duty.
Still, these are turbulent times in Wayne’s world. If Rooney remains Man Utd player next season, as Ferguson insists he will, he risks becoming the highest-paid utility player in the country.
There is no escaping the fact that the 27-year-old is no longer the player he was, or indeed should be, and that reality is a painful one for somebody once billed as the “golden boy of English football” by Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Dropped against Real, this was Rooney’s opportunity to prove a point to Ferguson by dominating this FA Cup quarter-final tie against Chelsea and, in the absence of the rested Robin van Persie, restate his case to be regarded as United’s main man, the one who makes the difference when the team are in need of inspiration.
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