Wayne Rooney, Wayne Rooney, he goes...where?

Another player has taken control of his future and decided that he no longer wants to play with the team that currently employs him. Wayne Rooney of Manchester United has been in a little spat with manager Alex Ferguson since the World Cup finished and this week it came out that Rooney has no intention of signing a new contract with United when his current deal ends after this season.

If you thought LeBron James was a big name free agent, you haven't seen anything yet. Rooney is a prolific goal scorer, footballer of the year and will command the highest transfer fee ever if he moves clubs. Rooney will have every team in Europe vying for his attention, but realistically there are only a handful of clubs that could really aspire to acquire him. If he decides he wants to stay in England the list gets smaller. Unlike LeBron who kept the whole league guessing, Rooney will not get a one hour special on BBC to announce where he will be signing, he will get a week's worth of coverage.

The question that remains to be seen is whether United makes the decision to transfer him, when they know he won't sign back with them. It is the same decision that a few NBA teams had to make - namely the Cleveland Cavaliers with LeBron and the Toronto Raptors with Chris Bosh. Both teams elected to keep their superstars and got nothing in return when they left. The Denver Nuggets are going through the same question this season with Carmelo Anthony, he has said he has no intentions of staying in Denver after the season, so do they try to win this year with him or get something for him?

It is a tough call for management, you have to take the feelings of fans into account, as well as that of the players and of course the financial implications. Although these are tough situations for clubs, there are worse contract situations. The ones where a player holds out similar to those in the NFL this season like Darrelle Revis of the NY Jets or Vincent Jackson of the San Diego Chargers. These are players who have signed long term contracts but don't want to play under the terms any longer because they feel (and lots of time they are correct) that they are worth more money than they are being paid and with careers so short the players feel they need to cash in.

So what does Manchester United do? They have to find a way to settle with him. He has been the face of United and it would be in their best interest to mediate the situation and put him back in a Red Devils jersey next year. If they can't...the hottest ticket will be when Rooney returns to Old Trafford wearing a Manchester City jersey, ouch.