Wayne Rooney of England and Manchester United is famous worldwide for his prolific goal scoring ability. You can hardly describe him as a dribbler but he has managed to completely dribble the football world over the past few days with his announcement to quit United and the sudden somersault of renewing his contract to remain at Old Trafford till at least 2015.

The 24 year old hot tempered goal poacher has confounded all the pundits and football analysts who were making all kinds of permutations and predictions of the young man’s next line of action after abandoning his mentor Sir Alex Ferguson, the man he himself has described as a genius of a manager.

Now all those club owners with fat cheque books waiting to snatch Rooney would have to wait till after 2015.  His colleagues in rival teams who suddenly saw in him a real gem to play alongside with may have to revise their notes.

Those who were expecting Ferguson’s usual sharp reaction to such rebel players were surprised to see him in a rather subdued mood and you could see he was doing a lot of serious thinking. I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that for once Alex Ferguson felt completely floored.

I recall the problem Sir Alex had with agents of Carlos Tevez that eventually led to the Argentinian opting for close rivals Manchester City.  The adroit manager has never hidden his dislike for football agents who many regard as “exploiters” .In Rooney’s case under discussion, Sir Alex has made allusions to the role being played by the player’s agent as putting money ahead of loyalty and trust.

If you catch the drift, you will realize that Alex puts a lot of premium on the loyalty and trust of his players. He usually catches them young and mentors them to stardom so the rapport is always there.

After six years partnership, it is not difficult to conclude that Alex and Rooney know each other quite intimately. It is on record that Sir Alex has always come to the defence of Rooney when his hot temper becomes an issue.

It is obvious Alex has a weak spot for Rooney, so his decision to quit hit the manager quite hard. At this juncture I would like to commend Ferguson’s courage in showing a brave face in front of the TV cameras.

A critical analysis of the reason why Rooney said he wanted to leave Old Trafford would show that the young man had a good case. He blamed the club for not attracting the top players in the world to maintain Old Trafford as the place to land the biggest trophies.

My non-technical mind tells me that Rooney has been overworking himself since the departure of Ronaldo. To my mind, last season was a tiring experience for Rooney who did not get the expected support from Nani and Berbatov, no wonder by the time of the World Cup in South Africa he was already worn out.

Unfortunately, Rooney carried the England World Cup fiasco hangover to Old Trafford this season and he can hardly find the net these days. To add confusion to disbelief, his domestic affairs hit the international headlines and you don’t blame him too much for throwing loyalty and trust to the dogs.

But you can trust Alexander “the Great” for his sagacity and ability to take the chests out of the blazing fire.
Rooney is back and those who think Manchester United are on the brink must wake up.

The Premier League is yet to warm up properly and in Biblical language those “who think they are standing must watch lest they fall".

Stoke City here come the Red devils. Expect fireworks galore.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.