We ' ve had A LOT of discussion about this on rreddevils and a lot of good points are made in all directions , but one very strong point from a business point of view is that Rooney is the face of ManUtd at some parts of the world . For example in the US people don ' t follow football soccer that much , but they do recognize certain players , like Messi , Ronaldo and Rooney . Or so I heard . Some fan from North America said so . So the fact that ManUtd have Rooney is already making them money through shirt sales etc . He might not be on the top of his game , but as a business asset he is important . And we don ' t know what the situation in the locker room is . Maybe Rooney still has the confidence of all the players ? I personally feel like Rooney shouldn ' t be playing for the time being , but I also don ' t want to see him get sold without his own consent . I ' ve been a Rooney fan since I first saw him play in Euro 2004 , but I feel like it ' s time for him to move onto a rotation player role .