Sunday 13 May 2018 11:47, UK
Should Wayne Rooney stay at Everton or go elsewhere? The Sunday Supplement panel discuss as he is linked to a move to MLS side DC United.
It emerged this week that a deal had been struck between Rooney's representatives and the club, and DC United manager Ben Olson also confirmed the interest, although insisted the move is not yet done.
Rooney has been ruled out of Everton's match against West Ham on Sunday and could have made his final appearance for the Toffees - but should he leave the Premier League or stay for another season?
The Sunday Supplement panel had their say...
When he went to Everton, I was quite charmed by it. I liked the idea although a lot of people were quite cynical about it, but he is their top scorer this season and top on assists as well I think. He scored possibly the goal of the season against West Ham and scored a hat-trick in the game which turned their season.
I know Sam [Allardyce] would like to take credit for it but it's David Unsworth on the touchline and it's Rooney's hat-trick. Although it seems to have petered out a bit, I'd like to see him stay there. I think he is a young man to be going to DC United in the MLS, I really do.
There has got to be a way Everton can set up, maybe if there is a different manager or different ideas, where you can get more out of Rooney or there might be a way they can set up so he is an impact player. I know he would want to start every game because everyone does, but there must be a way Everton can work with Rooney because anyone that can do what he did to West Ham in that particular game, he hasn't forgotten how to play football in the four or five months since then. The idea that he has got nothing to offer isn't right.
His next move isn't about football, it's about him and his family. People think these MLS moves are sitting on the beach time and putting your feet up. I was over in New York a few years ago with Sam Cook, who does media for New York City FC, and he said it was like a Champions League week every week because of the vast distances you're having to travel and you can be away for two, three or four days. It is constant and can get wearing for the players, I think Steven Gerrard realised this and realised it wasn't all that.
So his next move has to be for him and his family but I'd love to see him stay at Everton and see some more great moments from him.
We were talking before we came on air about how he should be remembered and I think too many people look at the Rooney of the last three or four years. On YouTube, there is a video of Rooney's classic goals or something like that and some of the goals he scored are absolutely unbelievable [as are] some of the impressions he had on games.
He was a sensational player and the very fact he is still back page news tells you the player he was, not the player he is. Whether he stays at Everton or not won't make a huge amount of difference to them, but at his height, Rooney was absolutely sensational. For me, one of the top five English players ever.
Rooney has been playing professionally since he was 16. He is such an accomplished technical footballer, and he can do a lot of things other players can't do, but I just feel that there are increasingly fewer teams that accommodate the older player. That is not to say he is just trundling around, but he is certainly not a 22-year-old anymore.
What struck me about the move is that most of our Premier League stars that have gone to the MLS have gone to New York or LA for obvious reasons - they're great places to live - and DC United are owned by the same people who own Swansea or there is certainly a connection.
They are historically quite successful, but they are having a terrible season and they are bottom of the Eastern Conference. They have just built a new stadium, and obviously they want a big name to open it in July. I think they have got a run of 10 home games because they have played all their games away from home.
It is not your archetypal MLS move, I'm sure it is a lovely place to live, but Everton are going to be making big changes and are Rooney and his agent Paul Stretford trying to find an accommodation whereby he will stay and threatening to leave or having an option to leave is always a good negotiating position? It feels to me like there might be some more twists and turns.
