Bit late to this thread, but the simple short answer is: Yes.
I'm not Rooney's biggest fan, although his talent and quality is there for all to see. I also find it ironic that in the season where his performances haven't been as good as in past seasons he's actually scoring more goals, so I guess it's ups and downs.
The simple thing about Rooney is his market worth rather than his footballing worth, and although that sounds harsh it shouldn't be. Rooney is a world class footballer and, for my money, is worth as much as any other forward out there. Look at the ridiculous price tag Ibrahimovic went for and he's not in the same league as Rooney. Kaka went for £60m and quite honestly, he's never been that good, and it seems all the hype train he's had a free ride on for the last 3 years has slowed down because even Madrid's own fans are questioning his worth.
There are three players in the World game that can command an insane transfer figure, Ronaldo (who did), Messi and Rooney. Ronaldo was bought by Madrid for £80m because of his ability to win matches single handedly (and is the only player around who can do that), and although his marketability is very high, it's not up there with what Beckham could pull in. The only player close to pulling in what Beckham could is Wayne Rooney. All the unfair comments you can give about him being ugly (when he's really not) are wide of the mark because his market share and image rights are huge, even when Ronaldo was at the top of his game in his last 3 seasons at Manchester United it was Rooney who would make more money at the club (and still does.)
The fact is, Rooney is worth whatever anyone is willing to pay for him because the financial return on him would far outweigh any outlay on acquiring him and on top of this he is in an elite category of footballers alongside the likes of Ronaldo, Messi, Torres, Gerrard, Lampard and Drogba. I really couldn't think of anyone else I'd put in that group right now.
If you look at the figures in the modern game of what teams are willing to pay to acquire players such as £36m for Benzema, £60m Kaka, and Ibrahimovic in a deal worth an estimated £65-£70m, Robinho at £32.5m, how many of those are real value for money signings that will bring not only financial reward over the outlay but also give guaranteed performances? I'd say none, but Rooney definitely would, he's a mega star all over the World, especially in Asia, and even when he's playing poorly he still makes teams tick in a similar way to Lampard and Gerrard do.
So that's the long answer. Is Rooney worth £70m? Yes, and probably more as there are lots of teams who, if they could afford it, would pay more.
I'm not Rooney's biggest fan, although his talent and quality is there for all to see. I also find it ironic that in the season where his performances haven't been as good as in past seasons he's actually scoring more goals, so I guess it's ups and downs.
The simple thing about Rooney is his market worth rather than his footballing worth, and although that sounds harsh it shouldn't be. Rooney is a world class footballer and, for my money, is worth as much as any other forward out there. Look at the ridiculous price tag Ibrahimovic went for and he's not in the same league as Rooney. Kaka went for £60m and quite honestly, he's never been that good, and it seems all the hype train he's had a free ride on for the last 3 years has slowed down because even Madrid's own fans are questioning his worth.
There are three players in the World game that can command an insane transfer figure, Ronaldo (who did), Messi and Rooney. Ronaldo was bought by Madrid for £80m because of his ability to win matches single handedly (and is the only player around who can do that), and although his marketability is very high, it's not up there with what Beckham could pull in. The only player close to pulling in what Beckham could is Wayne Rooney. All the unfair comments you can give about him being ugly (when he's really not) are wide of the mark because his market share and image rights are huge, even when Ronaldo was at the top of his game in his last 3 seasons at Manchester United it was Rooney who would make more money at the club (and still does.)
The fact is, Rooney is worth whatever anyone is willing to pay for him because the financial return on him would far outweigh any outlay on acquiring him and on top of this he is in an elite category of footballers alongside the likes of Ronaldo, Messi, Torres, Gerrard, Lampard and Drogba. I really couldn't think of anyone else I'd put in that group right now.
If you look at the figures in the modern game of what teams are willing to pay to acquire players such as £36m for Benzema, £60m Kaka, and Ibrahimovic in a deal worth an estimated £65-£70m, Robinho at £32.5m, how many of those are real value for money signings that will bring not only financial reward over the outlay but also give guaranteed performances? I'd say none, but Rooney definitely would, he's a mega star all over the World, especially in Asia, and even when he's playing poorly he still makes teams tick in a similar way to Lampard and Gerrard do.
So that's the long answer. Is Rooney worth £70m? Yes, and probably more as there are lots of teams who, if they could afford it, would pay more.
