Tottenham Should Forget Damiao And Try To Sign Wayne Rooney From United

Tottenham should end the two year saga of attempting to sign Brazilian striker Leandro Damiao from Internacional and look closer to home by signing Wayne Rooney from Manchester United.

Wayne Rooney [Picture: from www.clker.com With thanks.]Tottenham’s search for a striker continues with Leandro Damiao  thought to be their number one target. The Brazilian international is an exceptional talent but Spurs have been attempting to finalise a deal for over two years, without success. His club appear unwilling to complete negotiations and so the saga drags on from one transfer window to the next with the player apparently reluctant to come to England even with Sandro already at White Hart Lane. Presumably, Tottenham intend to renew negotiations again this summer but will probably be told that Internacional don’t want to sell their main striker midway through their season – it’s the excuse they’ve used for the past two summers! Tottenham should cut their losses and look elsewhere.

Wayne Rooney

It is now a fortnight since Sir Alex Ferguson’s decision to leave Wayne Rooney out of the Manchester United team for the second leg of their Champions League match against Real Madrid at Old Trafford shook the footballing world. Newspaper reports focused more on Wayne Rooney’s future prospects at Old Trafford than on United’s defeat. Having been left out of the club’s most important match of the season, reports suggested that he had fallen out of favour with United’s long serving manager. With this uncertainty surrounding Rooney, Tottenham should consider making a move for the England international in the summer.

The arrival of Robin van Persie at Old Trafford last summer and his successful goal scoring season means that Wayne Rooney is no longer the number one striker at the club. Previously, Sir Alex would have included Rooney in his team in a deeper lying support role, playing off the striker but against Real Madrid, Danny Welbeck was selected ahead of Rooney. Rooney will not be impressed to be behind Van Persie and the young, inexperienced England international at Old Trafford – he’s used to being their top man.

It must have come as a shock to Rooney, not to be starting such a vital match. It certainly proved to be a surprise to his wife Colleen, whose tweet was reported in various newspapers, including the Sun,

"‘Can’t believe @WayneRooney isn’t starting tonight!!!’"

Two weeks on and everything appears to be fine in Wayne’s world at Old Trafford – The Mail on Sunday suggested Wayne would get a new deal, he was restored to the team for the next game against Chelsea in the FA Cup, scoring in a 2 – 2 draw. He also scored United’s only goal in a win against Reading last weekend and now he joins up with England where he is assured of his place in the team. As United progress serenely towards another Premier League title with only Chelsea in the way of them meeting neighbours City in the FA Cup semi-final, Rooney will be able to look back on yet another successful season at Old Trafford.

On the surface, it looks unlikely that Rooney will leave United but Ferguson has previous for removing top names from the club when no-one expects it – Roy Keane, David Beckham, Paul Ince and Jaap Stam have all been shown the door for one reason or another. Who will be next?

If Rooney were to leave United he would seem unlikely to go abroad. His style of play is more suited to the Premier League and while enjoying numerous holidays around the world each year, both Wayne and Colleen are close to their families and would be reluctant to leave England.

Not Tottenham

Many Tottenham supporters would immediately say, “We don’t want Wayne Rooney at White Hart Lane!” But why not?

Rooney is a regular high goal scorer in the Premier League. He has 16 goals this season from 30 appearances in all competitions but last year his record was 34 goals from 44 matches. What Rooney would bring to the strike force is a total commitment and effort that is lacking from Tottenham’s strikers. If Rooney were in a Tottenham team, no longer would you see Gareth Bale deliver the perfect cross into the area with the two strikers watching from the edge of the box. Rooney would be throwing himself at the ball to make contact with it

Adebayor has been ineffective this season [Photo: Jav The_D0C_66]Take the last three Spurs games and Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor, playing either individually or as a pair, have been ineffective, failing to trouble or put the Liverpool, Inter or Fulhamdefenders under any pressure. With Rooney in the team, defenders would know they were in for a battle against a player who would challenge for every ball. At present, Adebayor never challenges for any ball played forward and when he does get the ball, he is too easily dispossessed. Defoe is a goal scorer but if he isn’t scoring, he contributes little to the team. Rooney would bring a fierce competitiveness to the strike force along with a strong desire to win. He has also shown an ability to play with different players and has always linked up well with Defoe in England matches.

Problems

There are obvious problems which would prevent such a transfer taking place.

• Manchester United would be extremely reluctant to sell Rooney to Tottenham.  If they decided, however, that his time at Old Trafford was up, where would he go? It’s unlikely that he’d go to Europe and few clubs in England would be able to afford him or provide the type of challenge that Rooney would want.
• Too expensive. That is true but if Tottenham are seeking a top class striker, they are going to have to be prepared to pay a large fee with the appropriate level of finances to back it up. Even after paying such money, there would be no guarantee that a striker new to the Premier League would adapt and produce the number of goals the club and supporters would be expecting. With Rooney, however, he has a record of goals in English football over the past decade and it would be worth the financial risk.

New Challenge

If Tottenham were to have Champions League football next season, Wayne Rooney, at 27 years of age, might be prepared to take on the challenge of trying to lift Spurs to the next level. He might also like the idea of playing and living in London, or Colleen might, and it’s not too far from their Liverpool roots.

If Rooney were to join Tottenham, it would bring a new dynamic to the team and might prove more successful than any of the succession of strikers that the club will be linked with in the coming months. With Rooney you would know what you were getting.

Admittedly, Tottenham signing Wayne Rooney is ,in all probability, unlikely to happen but there’s absolutely no certainty that Internacional will sell Leandro Damiao to Spurs this summer or any summer.