Wayne Rooney’s team have reportedly already scouted the Chinese Super League.
According to Daniel Taylor, the chief football writer for the Guardian and the Observer, Rooney’s advisers went on a “fact-finding mission” to explore the possibility of the player moving to the lucrative league.
The report wasn’t positive.
Apparently, the pitches are terrible, the standard is so low it makes Major League Soccer look like the Champions League and the referring is dreadful. There’s also been whispers of match-fixing and bribery.
However, the Manchester United captain may be willing to put that aside if this offer lands at his feet.
Rooney's team have been on a "fact-finding mission" to China… https://t.co/LuaMQ4TVEA
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) December 18, 2016
According to The Mirror, Evergrande Taobao and Beijing Guoan are prepared to offer £10m for Rooney, and pay the player £700,000 a week. That’s almost double the £400,000 a week Oscar will earn when he joins Shanghai SIPG in January.
It’s not hard to see how Rooney’s previous concerns about the league would be eased by such an offer.
On the one hand, the pitches are awful. But on the other, £700,000 a week.
The standard is diabolical. But £700,000 a week.
The referees are said to be terrible. But, Seven. Hundred. Thousand. Pounds. A. Week.
Every week. For at least three years.
Of course, money isn’t everything. Rooney reportedly turned down an offer from Beijing Guoan in the summer, but his situation has changed since then.
Rooney began the season as a guaranteed starter for Jose Mourinho’s season, but has been used sparingly since losing his place at the end of September.
His contract expires in 2019, but, if he wants to be a regular starter, it’s looking increasingly likely that he’ll have to leave Old Trafford to do so.
Rooney’s boyhood club Everton have long been linked with a move for the player should he leave United before his contract expires. However, they aren’t paying that type of money and no-one outside of the Asian country is.
If the 31-year-old, who earns a reported £300,000 a week at Old Trafford, does move to China, he’ll be playing against his former United teammate Carlos Tevez.
The Argentine is set to join Shanghai Shenhua from his boyhood club Boca Juniors next month, and will earn a reported £615,000 a week.
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) December 19, 2016
