Ligue 1 Rumors: Monaco Looking at Signing Wayne Rooney in January

Wayne Rooney was born in England. Rooney plays in England. Rooney plays in France?

You read that last sentence correctly. Wayne Rooney’s days at Manchester United may be numbered. With the recent down fall of Manchester United, they have gone to great lengths to help stop the bleeding. Two years ago, a legend of a coach for the club, Sir Alex Ferguson, decided to step down as manager and hang up the clipboard all together. Since then, the club has finished in 7th place and seen three different coaches take the helm over a year and a half.

Last season saw David Moyes take over the empty position, but he took the axe late on in the season and Ryan Giggs finished off the season as coach. United finished the season in 7th place, and did not make it to European competitions.

This season, United hired the ex-Netherlands boss Louis Van Gaal. Along with Van Gaal, United has seen the arrival of many well-known players. Some of those players are Daley Blind, Angel Di Maria, Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera, and Radamel Falcao on loan from Monaco. However, Falcao may be at Manchester United for good.

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With all the influx of talent, the public has wondered if there is room anymore for Rooney at United. There were other teams that made bids for the star player, clubs such as Chelsea, PSG, Arsenal, and Real Madrid in the 2013-2014 season. Even though there was this speculation, Moyes turned down all offers and confirmed that Rooney was staying at the club. Since then, he has remained a constant starter at the club, often wearing the captain’s armband, and providing consistent performance for his team.

With Falcao being the newest addition to the star-studded line up for United on loan, there is rumor that Monaco would be willing to let him go, in return for Rooney. It was said that Monaco had been in pursuit of Rooney for a while, and even though he just signed a long contract extension, Monaco would be willing to add Falcao to the deal to land the star Englishman.

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The move of Rooney going to Monaco would be a good switch for everyone involved. It would be good for Rooney because with all the new talent at United, playing time will be hard to come by, and even the slightest of poor performances may put him on the bench. Meanwhile, over at Monaco, he would be a starter for sure, with no threat of being benched and would get plenty of playing time. With Monaco coming in 2nd place in Ligue 1 in the 2013-2014 season, Rooney would still be able to play Champions League football as well. With this being a new league, Rooney would have room to flourish in the new setting.

This would also greatly help AS Monaco. Once Monaco got extreme financial help, they brought in world talent with the likes of James Rodriguez and Falcao, to name a couple. Since that break out season, Monaco have lost most of their star talent, and have done very little to help fill the gaps they left. They have signed a few lesser well-known players, but none the like of James or Falcao and this could be the chance for Monaco to get back on track with signing star talent.

If this move were to go through it would have to wait until the January transfer window in 2015, but it would be a step up for all parties involved and should be heavily considered.