Selling to rivals and all that

Thats my point. He wants to be a CF and the one season we used him there he scored 35 goals. Its SAF that picked the team/positions not the player. Had SAF used him as a CF rather than shifting him around Rooney would be thought of in the same class as Falcao & Cavani.

As for "Just because he's played in midfield or out wide on occasion in this time does not make him a utility player" I think youl find it was much more frequent than "on occasion" and being played in a number of positions does make him a utility player.

How do you know he wants to be a cf? He's always said he prefers to be involved in the play. This was something Capello criticised him for when he led the line for England.

Also, he score 35 goals the season before last as a 'utility player' so that argument doesn't wash.

Rooney has played in different positions but has played the majority of the time in his favoured role behind the striker since Ronaldo left, bar one season.

It's only in the bigger games where he is often played out of position as we've needed the team to be more solid as Rooney has been sacrificed, fair enough.

Playing out of position is no excuse for not being able to control the ball or pass it properly. Rooney has only had two high scoring seasons in his United career. One where the majority of the time he led the line and the other was behind the striker.

Despite this, his overall footballing ability has steadily declined since Ronaldo left, even though the team has been built around him.

He said it himself he will play where the manager tells him, but he see himself as a striker.

As for him scoring 35 goals as a utility player. How is that a negative? Mata scored 20 odd last seson and was talked of as world class.

I agree his perfomances have dropped off but this is more to do with attitude than loss of ability and whilst i dont condone this, hopefully, used as a CF by Moyes. we can see the Rooney of old.

LOL The Rooney delusion on this board is truly staggering.

You'll find more quotes from Rooney saying his best role is behind the striker than as the main cf.

I didn't say it was a negative, it was to suggest that he scored more goals in that position (he did in the league) than as a cf so the argument that is his best position doesn't wash as he's scored more goals from a different position and has only played as a cf for one season, in which he didn't lead the line in all of the games.

His attitude has been crap for about 4 seasons then as he's lost plenty of ability in that time.

Even when he score 35 goals from behind the striker his all round play was pretty average but our team was built to get goals from him - as finishing is now his best attribute.

The Rooney of old is long gone. Has been for about 4 years. Now and again we've seen glimpses in this time of the old Rooney but it is never sustained.

Rooney won't play as a cf as RVP is better. And he won't score the same amount of goals from behind the striker as he did the season before last because our attitude has changed and it's now geared to getting goals from RVP not Rooney.

He still has a lot to offer United if he stays, but we won't see the Rooney we have in the past as he's regressed and the team dynamic has changed.

That's why selling him won't be the end of the world.

"he scored more goals in that position than as a cf so the argument that is his best position doesn't wash"

You said yourself its now his best position.

Had we brought in 1 or 2 quality midfielders by now i would be less concerned at Rooney going but for the moment i feel Rooney is worth more to us than the £20-30m we would likely get for him. After all Moyes already has a massive budget and appears to be strugglng to spend that.

Yes we have Kagawa who i reallly rate but he had niggling injuries that kept him out last season and we all know RVP's injury record. Sell Rooney and lose one of RVP or Kagawa to injury and where would we be?

I said it might be. But there's no evidence to suggest is is as he's only had limited appearances there in comparison to behind the striker. Plus he won't get to play as a cf as it's a redundant point.

Even when RVP didn't play as cf Rooney didn't, Hernandez did.

Rooney has niggling injuries as well. Injuries are part of the game. But as a team we can move forward without Rooney. We might not win the league next season even with Rooney, so I'd rather we take a more considered approach to the future of this team and selling Rooney would be for the best in the long wrong.

Unfortunately it may have to be to Chelsea as they're the only ones that have shown an interest. It's not been a great interest though as they've not come back after having a bid rejected.

I think Rooney is still capable of being a very important player for us. Yes his attitude / performaces have been off in recent times but it would be naive to think SAF hasnt played a part in this. Now SAF has gone maybe Rooney will get back to the level we know he is capable of. After all he cant be that bad if Jose wants him.

Would you replace Rooney should he be sold and if so what type of player would you replace him with assuming we have already got a midfielder in?

Maybe, we'll have to see.

I'd play Kagawa in the middle and bring a player to play on the left. Who? That's the question.

Can't be that hard to find somebody that is an improvement on Ashley Young.