Wayne Rooney, rather unceremoniously, left Everton in 2004 after bursting onto the scene and spent only two full seasons at the club.
I don’t think anyone ever really accepted it fully, and the idea of Rooney ‘coming home’ has been prevalent ever since. I’ll weigh up the positives, negatives, and all that romanticism around him returning.
So, the most obvious positive is that Wayne Rooney – as much as people will contest this – is much, much better than what we have currently. Ross Barkley is too patchy, Arouna Koné is too reliant on other players to shine himself, and Oumar Niasse seems to be damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.
I don’t get the idea of moulding a 31-year old prolific goalscorer – across his career at least – into a run-of-the-mill central midfielder with little to offer and whose more active, energetic years have passed him by. He’s a striker, and he’ll stay a striker if he does come back to Everton.
Our team will naturally take shape around him, even if this means dropping Ross Barkley, who hasn’t been good enough for two years now. He would occupy a second-striker role, or even directly up top with Romelu Lukaku.
I was as surprised as many when Ronald Koeman, at his usual press conference, explained how if Wayne Rooney was available to sign, he’d pursue him. I thought Koeman would be of the mindset that Everton needed to go down the avenue of a long term project, not short-term risks.
I don’t think it’s out of sentimentality, I think he genuinely sees something in Rooney that the sensible majority of us still can, too. Wayne Rooney is quality and has been misused as of late. He is not ‘finished’, as Ibrahimovic was still banging goals in early on in the season at 35, 4 years older than Rooney.
Now for a cynical viewpoint, this would simply be massive for Everton. Everyone in the world knows Wayne Rooney. His name is a marketing opportunity in itself, and it would certainly raise eyebrows around world Football.
This is not to dispel all concerns, however, that’d be irresponsible. Yes, there are obviously risks to bringing Rooney back. The elephant in the room is his astronomical wage packet. I think, however, Rooney knows that wherever he goes, he’ll be taking a wage cut. Nobody in world Football, bar China, but he’s already knocked a move to the Chinese League back during the summer window, so I don’t suspect this would be a major problem.
Another is that we’ve never really adopted a two-striker Formation, and would bringing Wayne Rooney back mean he’d slot seamlessly into Ross’ position, or would he be better playing further up? At the moment, he’s being deployed as an Attacking Midfielder with little impact, so logically, you would play him up top. Then that means an entire tactical rejig and the loss of a runner in midfield. It’d take some getting used to, and if we want to push for Europe this season, do we really have the time for a mid-season tactical transition?
I think, looking at everything, Rooney coming back would be a positive move for the club.
He still has much to offer, and the potential to capitalise on marketing cannot be overlooked.
It’s been a while since such a big-name signing was made, what with our last being Ronald Koeman, and that says a lot about the last Transfer Window.
It’s only a matter of time, surely.
