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.

Are You Hurt or Are You Injured?

This story came to light for me after reading about it in The Sun (UK) via Deadspin and Unprofessional Foul.

If you didn't take time to click on the link, the quick and dirty of it is that Manchester United player Gabriel Obertan, a 20 year-old phenom who is getting paid 20 000 pounds per week recently injured his back and was unable to play. This is a player who is the future of the Red Devils and is now starting for the squad on a regular basis. While injured the club thought the bright lights, big city and cash would get in the way of his healing and decided to assign him some light labour to keep his head screwed on tight. Obertan was made to trim the bushes (not in a Ronaldo type way), wash the cars of senior executives and keep the grounds looking fine.

He apparently did all this without complaint, worked hard and is now fully recovered and back to playing with the starting eleven.

After speaking of bad boys like Stephen Jackson, Allen Iverson and John Rocker yesterday, do you think any of those guys would do this kind of work? For that matter, do you think any North American professional athlete would take this kind of treatment?

Quick example - the Toronto Maple Leafs in the offseason signed the goaltender of the future, Jonas Guftasson. A player that was going to backstop the Leafs to the playoffs (don't want to say Stanley Cup and get all carried away). He impressed during training camp with his size, reflexes and Swedish charm.

Early in the season though, after taking the number one goalie spot away from Vesa Toskala, Guftasson went down with an injury. There are plenty of ways to get distracted during your recovery while in Toronto, especially for a hockey player who made a big early splash. It seems that Jonas, was a good boy and has recovered nicely from his boo-boo and is back on the ice, but would it have been prudent for GM Brian Burke to make Jonas, say sweep up the arena after games to earn his cheque. Maybe the goalie could have been used to wipe all the new windows at the ACC in between games. Just think, it would be just like the training Daniel Laruso did!

In principal I like what Man U was thinking here. Make their player earn his keep and keep him involved in the day to day activities of the team. The only way North American teams can seem to involve injured players is by making them show up to charity functions. I think alot of this has something to do with a players loyalty to a franchise, but that can be a subject for another day...