The voices that keep whispering about an impeding deal involving Manchester United and Barcelona won’t lay to rest. The current trendy suggestion is along with Thiago Alcantara, Barca will send David Villa and a bit more money in exchange for Wayne Rooney.
It seems Sport is leading the vanguard on this one for quite some time. While reports in England suggest that Rooney is actually more inclined to stay at Manchester United and in general, the feeling of him and Barcelona just doesn’t make much sense, things look very different in Spain.
Two things are clear: Thiago Alcantara prefers to sign with Manchester United, and the deal isn’t far from being completed, while David Villa is another player Barcelona would like to see leave, considering his €11 million salary next season.
In order to still get something out of this deal, they’re willing to put both players in the same package, not to mention add €5 million more in order to have United give up on their attempts to educate and tame Wayne Rooney, sending him Barcelona’s way.
The interesting thing about Rooney is that he’s been probably slightly undervalued in all the talk about him, currently putting him at €30 million Euro. Maybe it’s the fact that United are considering selling him to a club outside the Premier League, leaving Arsenal and Chelsea out of the loop.
In terms of salary, Rooney would probably make more money if he signed with PSG or Monaco, but at the moment, no club has made any offer for the player who seems to be getting along quite well with David Moyes. This deal has too many ifs and buts involved in it, including David Villa willing to give up on a salary no one else is going to give him, and United actually wanting to take on a striker with an injury past and turning 32 not too far from now.