Wayne Rooney to Barcelona?

One of the rather interesting transfer news lately concerning Manchester United involve the players swapping with Barcelona, Thiago Alcantara and David Villa going to Old Trafford with Wayne Rooney heading the opposite direction. Former red devil  Gerard Pique has openly suggested that Rooney would be most welcome and even has the chance to improve as a player.

To most of us this deal does not makes sense (apart from the known fact today that David Villa will be heading to Atletico Madrid). Barcelona has Lionel Messi and now Neymar, both attacking players with flairs. Regardless of the system Barcelona choose to play three would not makes sense. Barcelona will need balance not three attacking players. Their strength is in the midfield with Messi dropping in and out. This means that Rooney may have to settle for the role of utility player like how he had been at Manchester United, left or central midfield. Although Rooney has stated he would not mind these roles, at Barcelona he would be down the pecking order with the likes of Xavi (who could not take secondary roles), Iniesta or Cesc Fabregas. In addition Rooney’s willingness to drop back and help with the defensive side of the games makes him less suitable for the all out attacking roles more suited to Messi and Neymar. Rooney would end up as an impact player, call from the bench to change the game if necessary. 

Moving to local rivals like Arsenal or Chelsea which he had been links with lately looks doubtful with David Moyes most likely to continue Man United’s tradition of not selling star players to their local rivals. Does Rooney wants to go on to become the best player in the world winning accolades like Ronaldo and Messi or would he rather settle for a team role. 

Two more probable options are Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Real Madrid seems like a ‘mercenary’ club whereas Bayern Munich has shown little or no interest so far. Our guess is that Rooney should give up his current stand and remains where he is.