This takes me back to a conversation I had around the time Ronaldo left, or when it was becoming clear he would inevitably leave. It was about the difference between him and Rooney with regards to loyalty. The perception that Rooney would spend the rest of his life at United, while Ronaldo clearly wouldnt.
At the time I remember buying into that perception but I didnt think it was necessarily a difference of loyalty / integrity or anything like that. It was just that Rooney seemed to be a home-loving Northern lad who would always be satisfied playing for Manchester United because we offered him the things he wanted: CL football, trophies, prestige, convenience. Ronaldo wanted to play in Spain, which Rooney didnt. That seemed to be the difference.
I guess what I am saying is that I never really bought into Rooney being a true United Fan kind of a player, someone who would never want to play anywhere else, someone who grew up thinking exclusively of playing for United. For a time it suited him and there seemed little reason for those circumstances to change but apparently they have.
What I really do want to hear is a clear, intelligible and believable explanation of exactly why he wants to leave. Can it really be purely and simply he wants a shit load more money? If so, it just goes to show how wrong you can be about someone as I never would have thought that would have been his prime motivation. But as some have said, the amount of money we are presumably talking about here, I guess a lot of people would do the same thing.
Christ.