Manchester United have been warned by club legend Wayne Rooney to not sign Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale this summer.
England’s legendary striker Wayne Rooney has urged Manchester United to drop their interest in Gareth Bale – as reported by Mirror. The club legend believes that the Red Devils should refrain from signing any big name superstar and instead, focus on rebuilding the club.
“The first thing Ole has to do is build the squad and I don’t think bringing in one or two players for £100m is going to help the players already there,” Rooney told the BBC.
“He’s better spending £30million to 40million on players with potential and building the squad around those five or six players. You could bring in players in Ronaldo, Messi, Ramos or Bale but it’s going to cost you £350million and you’d get two years out of them and you’ve written that money off.”, he added.
Rooney’s comments make sense given the fact that Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer has already suggested that he will be building a squad around young players with potential. The Norwegian coach has also fumed at the lack of athleticism and character shown by Manchester United players in recent years.
In addition, he is unwilling to break the bank on a single player. Instead, he wants to buy young homegrown players, who are fully committed to impress and have room for improvement in their game. Bale, in that regard, does not exactly fit the criteria, at the age of 29.
The Welshman has also struggled with injuries for the most part of his career at Real Madrid and has played very little football in recent years. In fact, Bale hasn’t been able to surpass the 2,000-minute mark in the league in any of his last four seasons in La Liga.
Furthermore, he has endured 16 injury spells during his time at Real Madrid, which is indicative of his fitness issues that Manchester United should be well aware of.
Hence, the Red Devils should really back off from signing this 29-year-old attacking superstar, who is likely to cost in the region of £75 million. Instead, they should set their sights towards a younger alternative, who can not only add quality but also prove to be a prospect for the future.
They have recently completed the signing of Daniel James, who is similar to Bale given the pace and dynamism he offers in the final third. And it will be interesting to see how he performs in the new season.
As for Real Madrid, they could look to utilise Bale as a bargaining chip in an attempt to land top target Paul Pogba. It is, however, unlikely that they will receive their desired valuation for the Welshman. But, one thing is for sure – the departure of Bale will be beneficial for Los Blancos as they continue their spending spree this summer.