D.C. United has finally signed its superstar.
According to the Washington Post, former Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney is set to join the MLS club this July ahead of the opening of their new stadium, Audi Field. D.C. has reportedly finalized a package with the 32-year-old Rooney on a two-and-a-half year contract worth $13 million.
The club has also agreed to purchase his rights from Everton for an undisclosed transfer fee.
(UPDATE: D.C. announced the signing of Rooney on Thursday morning.
#NoWayneNoGain pic.twitter.com/HfbLmCsBOq
— D.C. United (@dcunited) June 28, 2018
“It is fantastic to be joining D.C. United at such an exciting time in the club’s history with the new stadium opening in just a few weeks,” Rooney said. “Moving to America and MLS fulfills another career ambition for me. I have the hunger to be a success here and will give D.C. 100 percent – as I have always done for every team I have ever played for.
Rooney is the all-time leading scorer for both Man United and the England National Team. He is coming off an 11-goal campaign with the Toffees, but failed to score within the 2018 calendar year.
The forward will become the highest paid player in D.C.’s history, and is scheduled to arrive on Thursday afternoon. He is not eligible to play until July 10th, but is allowed to train with his new team until then.
D.C. has struggled in 2018, claiming only 10 points from their opening 12 matches in league play. They have also been eliminated from the U.S. Open Cup and have won twice all of 2018.
Rooney will certainly add veteran experience to the group and add to the hype of the franchise as they begin a new chapter in their history. Audi Field is scheduled to open on July 14th which could mark the first official appearance for the former England star.
MLS is not a TOP world league but it’s not a retirement home either. Players passed their PRIME will have to work hard or be exposed on the field
Rooney does not have the quality of players around him to be successful. As of now my team just purchased an over-paid “Wondo” ……I guess putting fans in seats and selling Jerseys is also just as important?
He’s just here for the Nando’s
It’ll be fascinating if he is a David Villa for DC who leads the line and still has a ton of quality to offer, or more of a Frank Lampard or Stephen Gerrard, who were burned out and broken down and just…didn’t.
My hope is the former. Getting 2-3 really good years out of Rooney would help DC quite a bit, and it’s kinda sad to see the shape that one of the league’s flagship franchises has gotten to.
It tends to get overlooked that Lampard had 15 goals and 4 assists in 29 matches for NYCFC. He didn’t play as much as people expected or for what he was paid, but he was far more productive than many of the other retirement league players who have made appearances. Drogba was seen as a success and as a striker scored a goal every 131 minutes in MLS, Lampard scored once every 142 as a midfielder.
Lampard was quality – when he actually played.
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The fact that he pushed his time in MLS back by playing for MC still doesn’t sit well. That and he was injured all the time.
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Rooney is definitely on his last legs. It will be interesting to see if he has enough left.
my two cents: shall i venture a prediction? i think rooney will be a bust. he won’t work out. he’ll either have limited playing time due to injuries or he won’t like living in the usa and he’ll quit to go back to england. or he won’t adapt to the physical game in mls. or he’ll get his money and then quit.
I tend to agree. Rooney’s legs are shot, playing in the heat, at high altitudes (SLC, Col), on turf and for a bad team are not a good mix. He will have his moments, but D.C. would have been better served going the route NYRB and other teams are going and bringing in young South American players with big upsides.
There are strikers who can be effective as poachers. I remember Alan Shearer in his last years never did much running, but still managed to score a fair amount by hanging around the box and whenever he was able to get to the ball, he could be pretty lethal. I think Rooney will be able to keep up for the last part of this season and first half of next and then we will see if he can adjust for his declining physical output.
agreed, MLS passed this level quite a while ago ( in MLS years ).
If he were a cog on the best team in the league. Ok, he can take advantage of having more space and time.
That IS NOT the case here. He carries them, or they go nowhere. They will go nowhere, he isn’t going to do that.
zlatan has been lots of fun. i wonder what rooney will bring?
by the way, will ronnie the raccoon be coming to audi field? i love the raccoon and i’ll be so sad if they don’t keep it!