Some thoughts on Wayne Rooney’s hypothetical move to D.C. United

Could Wayne Rooney be joining another United, this time in D.C. ?(photo credit: Brandon Bleek)

Rumors in Major League Soccer are always fun.

Normally they start with a tweet in one of a variety of languages, then a blog post is written about it, and the ‘discussion’ takes place amongst supporters (using quotes here because it often sounds like folks are talking at each other rather than with each other). Grainy footage of said player is reviewed and in one week’s time the process is repeated. More often than not these rumors die are nothing more than a footnote, a few lines on a social media, or a couple of pennies (or dollars for those that are successful) in a writer’s pocket.

But every once in a while there is a pretty juicy rumor that seems to have a chance of being true. Wayne Rooney to D.C. United definitely fits in this category.

For those that have been busy planning for their Memorial Day vacations here is a recap: it has been reported by the BBC that Rooney, who currently plies his trade with Everton, has agreed in principle to a deal with United.

Let’s get this out of the way first: This deal still might not happen. In principle when it comes to sports negotiations is as loose as secrets in the Washington politics these days. Rooney and Everton have been known to have a change of heart in the past when it comes to deals and United have had instances in the past where players of a certain pedigree were close to signing with the side only to see the deal fall apart. To make a deal like this happen between clubs where the salary scales in the leagues are this different and work through the red tape that is MLS will take time.

Still it is fun to speculate and figure out some of the reasoning for this by all the different parties. Not everything can wrapped up in the tired ‘MLS is a retirement league! That’s why he wants to go there!’ or ‘That’s stupid! D.C. United needs *insert trendy style of player of the time*’. It is far more fun and makes a person less cynical to look at a potential signing and try and see why a club is making such a move than deliver some sort of 200 word hot take with flashy, meaningless graphics.

If one strips away the tired tropes of any superstar player moving to MLS the move on the surface makes some deal of sense for D.C. On the pitch United need goals. D.C. have scored just eight goals this season, third lowest among all MLS sides. While it is true that they have played just seven matches, lowest among MLS teams, this is not a new trend for the team. Here is how the club has finished in that statistic during the Ben Olsen era (Note: We are taking out the 2010 season since he was only coach for about half of it:)

Editor’s Note: This is not a graphic. It is a table. 

While there are certainly some good numbers in there, there are also some spectacularly poor seasons as well. What’s the cause for the fluctuation? At the root of the problem seems to be D.C.’s cap inflexibility. Due to the club having to pay rather high rent for RFK Stadium they haven’t had the ability to sign the marquee names that other clubs have. To their credit they have done pretty well in getting the most out of serviceable veterans like Chris Rolfe, Fabian Espindola, Luis Silva, or Patrick Mullins. While those players have provided short bursts of quality seasons they haven’t been able to sustain their performance over long periods. For all three of the players mentioned injuries were the key factors for their decline. Mullins is still playing while Rolfe has retired. Espindola played this past season in the Spanish second division while Silva has bounced around to various clubs.

While clubs can get away with a ‘forward by committee’  situation for short periods it is quite the challenge for an extended period of time. So it makes sense that if D.C. were to be spending big money on a player that it would be someone of his pedigree. Rooney is a lot of things but above all else on the pitch he is a goalscorer. Any person who has scored 208 goals in the Premier League, one of if not the top leagues in the world is a good player.

That isn’t to say that this is going to be an easy fit. Olsen as a coach runs a very tight ship and places a premium on fitness. Any Manchester United fan can tell you that through the years there have been questions of Rooney’s physical fitness. D.C.’s clogged schedule to end the 2018 season should raise some serious flags for whether he can truly handle this situation. Rooney is built very much like a player from yesteryear- a bit short, a bit stocky, probably not meant to run a marathon, but someone who has gifted feet and a good sense of how to create attacking chances. Whether Olsen can create a system that highlight’s Rooney’s strengths and hides his weaknesses will be an interesting subplot to this story should the deal go through.

If Rooney wants to avoid the dreaded ‘aging European washout’ label he is going to need to see this as a challenge and not as a chance to take it easy and pursue other professional options. That isn’t to say that he should be spending whole days in the weight room and have no personal life. Players like David Villa and Thierry Henry have shown that you can enjoy the relative anonymity of the U.S. and at the same time be the superstar player that a team can build around,  both on the pitch and at the gates.

Off of the pitch adding Rooney will give D.C. a shot in the arm in terms of publicity heading into Audi Field. While there is still plenty of good buzz around the team and the stadium they are still finding it difficult to get their name in local sports conversations. To be fair the Washington American football team rules the roost when it comes to sports talk in the region. But even the Washington Capitals, Wizards, and Nationals have at least permeated that bubble. United have not despite soccer being a huge attraction to people in the region.

That the club in the offseason entered into a strategic partnership with one of their three supporters groups, the Screaming Eagles, has not helped matters at all. For those that are unaware United have three main supporters groups: the Eagles, Barra Brava, and the District Ultras. In the press release that United put out when they announced the arrangement D.C. noted that,

As part of the partnership, The Screaming Eagles will take the lead role to manage all aspects of the supporter culture including single game supporter tickets sales for both home and road matches as well as organizing all activities and in-game fan experiences in the north end zone, in an effort to further unite the Black-and-Red supporter base that established the benchmark for U.S. soccer supporter culture in the early years of Major League Soccer.

In theory it sounds like a noble idea to unite the three SGs. But anyone who has had any sort of experience working with various supporters groups and their cultures, identities, and histories knows that an arrangement like this is bound to cause problems. While figuring out how this situation came to pass and who’s to blame is another column for another time suffice to say the new arrangement has not been met with open arms by many.

Rooney can do nothing for the second problem (He certainly did not matter in 2005 when supporters of Manchester United, discontent with the ownership at the time, broke ties with the club to form F.C. United of Manchester) but the first is certainly something that his addition could help with. While United still carry a measure of respect from past success in the region, the name ‘Wayne Rooney’ breaks through the traditional soccer landscape and into the greater sports landscape. It is most certainly a short-term fix for the club but they need to start somewhere.

So whether Rooney actually signs with D.C. is still at this point unknown. But it has brought a bit of excitement to the club and raised some good questions about where they are exactly heading. Even if he doesn’t end up wearing the traditional Black-and-Red it is good to hear D.C. back in the soccer conversation here in the United States. It is just a matter of now finding the right player, Rooney or someone else, who can sustain this momentum to deliver the goods both on and off of the pitch.