he might not apeal to the ladies like beckham, but he has resonance with the scrotes on the street...
they tend to buy a lot of rooney tat.
Not really, scrotes in the UK would sooner by a knock off from ebay on the cheap. Ronaldo's value isn't that he can sell shirts to fans in Madrid, nor Spain as a whole, which would happen anyway because of the Real fans in Spain, its his ability to sell shirts to fans in Asia, Africa, the America's and elsewhere, he has WORLDWIDE appeal not just to the locals, he's see as one of, if not the most skillful player in the world and that image sells. When people in Japan are buying Ronaldo shirts because they are his fans, he'll also bring in a lot of people who will become Real Madrid fans.
Rooney does NOT come close to having that same appeal. Even when it comes to something like a fifa box with Kaka, Ronaldo, Messi and Rooney's face on it, that doesn't mean they are all getting a flat equal fee for it, they are probably paying Ronaldo, kaka and Messi a huge amount more than Rooney for the same thing, because they have more appeal and are valued higher.
IN the scenario that you're a little kid watching Prem league and La Liga football on tv every week, do you become a fan of the kind of slightly fat, balding, foul mouthed not always very good, not hugely skillful powerhouse that is Rooney, or Ronaldo, scoring 3 times as many goals, tricks constantly throughout the game, not balding, not fat, a whingy little git, but a highly talented one, or Kaka or Messi. Rooney is a massive loser in that fight for global fans.
UTD would be stupid to sell him, not to mention Rooney wouldn't go, at least not unless Utd had several very uncompetitive years behind them. Rooney's from England, his dream was to play in the league he grew up watching for the team he loves where he gets a huge wage.
Beckham was rather forced out of Utd, and so went to the best place he could go, Rooney wouldn't go unless forced out or Utd weren't in the hunt anymore. But Utd couldn't get more than maybe 40mil for him IF real can get big funding again which they probably can't and Utd would be stupid to lose him for that little.