Wayne Rooney’s play has picked up of late.
Since David Beckham’s departure from Real Madrid to the LA Galaxy in 2007, the MLS has been put on the map. The lure of a warmer climate and one last final payday has seen some of the world’s finest soccer players spend the last days of their career in the land of the free and home of the brave. The list is long and impressive, the likes of Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Kaka, and Pirlo have all followed in Beckham’s footsteps. Could Everton’s Wayne Rooney also make the trip across the pond?
Before the start of November, the answer may have been a bit more clearcut. Rooney and Everton’s form were dismal at best and his second coming at Goodison Park wasn’t going to plan at all. Since the managerial change and the appointment of Sam Allardyce Rooney looks a different player and every bit as good as he did during his peak at Manchester United.
In Rooney’s last 5 games he has scored 6 goals with 2 assists. His contribution is one of the driving reasons the Blues are in the top half and only 9 points off a Champions League spot after being stranded near the relegation places for most of the early part of the season under Koeman and Unsworth.
On current evidence, it appears that England’s all-time leading goalscorer still has the ability to not only cope in the world’s most demanding league but thrive in it. Everton look to be on the up and up again and picturing a scenario where Allardyce let’s Rooney depart seems totally unimaginable. Finishing in the top 10 now seems a real possibility with Rooney’s Everton backed at ⅖ to do so, should Rooney leave in January for the MLS the bet in play odds wouldn’t favor Everton so strongly and they would be sure to struggle. A Wayne Rooney departure does seem unlikely now but the closer he gets to 35 the more it may make sense.
At 32, Rooney’s body is still up to the challenges of the top flight of English soccer. Realistically it will begin to tire and the option of a move to a league where the going is a bit easier will become a lot more enticing especially if the price is right.
Playing in the MLS won’t be the walk in the park that Rooney may imagine it to be according to Houston Dynamo president Chris Canetti. In a strongly worded warning to Rooney in March 2017 when the players future at Manchester United was up in the air, Canetti said Rooney wouldn’t have the same impact as David Beckham because of a weaker brand and would struggle to adapt.
For a striker that has 208 goals in 476 Premier League appearances it seems a bold prediction to make that Rooney would struggle to adapt in the MLS but looking at it objectively, Canetti does make a good point about complacency and the need to deliver. If Rooney is able to continue to deliver throughout the twilight of his career like he is doing now then a move across the Atlantic seems less likely but not improbable
