Rooney Not Back Yet

April 6th, 2010 | by: Matilda | Comments Off

Despite some of the rumors floating around yesterday that Rooney would feature in the second leg of the Bayern game today, Fergie has said there’s “no chance”. I must say this is quite a relief. It’s not good to rush anyone back from injury, it won’t benefit United in the long run, it won’t benefit England, and it certainly won’t benefit Rooney. After some complaining from those of the Red persuasion on Rob’s post, let’s get into club vs. country (for the billionth time).

I do agree that Rooney owes quite a bit to United. They pay his wages, they’ve helped him develop from a young gun at Everton to the superstar player he is today. But the thing is that club allegiances change. Afterall, Rooney himself grew up supporting Everton, but left them with the lure of pretty football and a pretty penny. But he’ll always be English. He’ll always be a boy from Liverpool. He always dreamed of pulling on that England jersey, earning those caps, getting one of the highest honours in football. It’s true that people occasionally change their allegiance, but it doesn’t happen very often. The Three Lions runs in his blood and that’s not going to change any time soon.

Regardless of who Rooney owes more to, it won’t benefit either side if Rooney is put into a game before he is ready. If the ligaments haven’t healed properly then it is extremely likely that he will injure them again and that it will be much worse. He could be out for the rest of the season for United, and we saw how important he is to them on Saturday. All of this is in addition the fact that if Rooney’s ankle gets much weaker it will be susceptible for the rest of his career.

Instead of bickering about who Rooney owes more to or who he means more to, let’s all agree that him coming back too soon isn’t good for anyone, especially not Rooney.