da bet7： The Guardian’s Daniel Taylor wrote last weekend that he believes it would be mutually beneficial for Wayne Rooney and Everton if they were to be reunited a few years down the line. While it paints a romantic picture, the old horse being put to pasture on its favoured ground, it conflicts with too many harsh truths.
da bwin： Taylor covers the causes of the painful separation well, but believes time is a healer and the major players involved from that torrid parting of the ways, David Moyes and Bill Kenwright, share the opinion Rooney could one day return to Goodison Park. Much of this is hinged on how he is a proud Liverpool lad, even going to the lengths of ensuring his children were born in Liverpool hospitals rather than Mancunian equivalents.
Rooney clearly feels connected to his place of birth and has every right to consider himself a proud Scouser. He also needs to understand that when he left the club it was seen as a betrayal by the fans. It was an option Steven Gerrard nearly took when accepting an offer from Chelsea before realising what the ramifications would be. Rooney took the leap without looking back.
His intentions can’t be argued against from a neutral’s point of view. He left for a club that were able to provide championship winning sides and Champions League football. His stock rose so high he even held Manchester United to ransom and questioned their ambition. Many will say he had to leave Everton to grow as a player.
Fans of the Toffees are right in saying playing for the club you love should surpass victories in other shirts. It’s hard to swallow that a man who declared “Once a blue, always a blue” could ever be trusted again. Many Evertonians would find it hard to cheer a man that caused such a fuss during his exit.
It also undermines the current side. The Rooney that had the ability to hold the top club in England to ransom no longer exists. His dip in form is now regarded as a decline in ability, a permanent drop-off to which there is no recovery from. It’s one thing Everton taking Phil Neville and gaining a positive captain during a time Europe was seen as a bonus, or Darron Gibson and Tom Cleverley in the hope they can complete their development. It’s another to take on a player past his best that can’t even disguise it in a superior Manchester United side.
Even if Everton did decide to gamble on the returning anti-hero, Rooney is now caught in a viscous circle. He is chasing down records at United, but the rate at which he’s scoring the required goals is slowing. As long as the carrot dangles he will want to remain in red. Upon that shirt he also carries the weight of the captain’s armband, a duty that holds another, unwelcome, record: he has yet to win anything with it on his arm.
The longer he stays chasing goalscoring records and his first trophy as captain the further his ability will diminish. There will come a time the ruthless Louis Van Gaal will cut Rooney free from all his duties. At such a junction he would make even less sense for an Everton side with progressive ambition.
Daniel Taylor may see a happy ending in Liverpool for Wayne Rooney, but I think it’s more probable he’ll kick his next, and last, contract off in Miami for David Beckham’s Major League Soccer franchise. It’ll spare him a painful Everton reunion, even if it will cost a little more in trips back to Liverpudlian hospitals.
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