What did you make of Wayne Rooney's statement? Have your say below

Yesterday, just two hours before the team kicked off their latest Champions League match with Bursaspor, Rooney released a damning statement that would have infuriated his manager, his team-mates and fans alike.

“I met with David Gill (United's chief executive) last week and he did not give me any of the assurances I was seeking about the future squad,” he said.

“I then told him that I would not be signing a new contract.”

The arrogance is, frankly, breathtaking. Still, he goes on...

“I was interested to hear what Sir Alex had to say yesterday and surprised by some of it.

“It is absolutely true, as he said, that my agent and I have had a number of meetings with the club about a new contract.

“During those meetings in August I asked for assurances about the continued ability of the club to attract the top players in the world.”

Yes, this is coming from a man who exceeded 40 goals for both club and country last season. But for him to effectively undermine what Sir Alex Ferguson has achieved with Manchester United, and to openly question his ability to keep the team at the top of the European game, is astonishing.

It is made even more astounding when one considers that this is a striker who has not scored from open play for his club since March, and has just one goal to his name this season – a penalty against bottom-of-the-league West Ham. Do you not think you are guilty of overstating your perceived importance a tad, Wayne?

Especially considering he has been comfortably overshadowed on the pitch this season by certainly three of the players he rates himself so superior to. Nani, Dimitar Berbatov and Paul Scholes have enjoyed excellent starts to the season, but they are clearly deemed little more than props in the Wayne Rooney show.

Having dug a hole, he continues to dig deeper...

“I have never had anything but complete respect for MUFC. How could I not have done given its fantastic history and especially the last six years in which I have been lucky to play a part?”

Ironic that he should use the word 'respect' in a statement that contained so little in its content and timing. And even more so given its juxtaposition to another surprising phrase: MUFC. Was it really too much to ask to spell in full the name of the club that have nurtured your talent for the last six years?

“For me it's all about winning trophies – as the club has always done under Sir Alex. Because of that I think the questions I was asking were justified.

“Despite recent difficulties, I know I will always owe Sir Alex Ferguson a huge debt. He is a great manager and a mentor who has helped and supported me from the day he signed me from Everton when I was only 18.

“For Manchester United's sake I wish he could go on forever because he's a one-off and a genius.

“For me it's all about winning trophies,” he harks. In fairness to him, I suppose three Premier League titles, a Champions League winners' medal, a FIFA Club World Cup and two League Cup titles does represent a dearth of talent and ambition on United's part.

For all his betrayal, though, I actually think he has a point.

Rooney was the man that Ferguson wanted to build his final all-conquering Manchester United team around. Now that cornerstone has been crumbled, the whole place could come down.

This isn't how it's supposed to work. Ferguson decides when a player's time at Old Trafford is up. Not the other way around. But that trend has been bucked by Rooney.

And it could threaten the immediate and long-term future of the club. In the short-term, Ferguson is faced with the dilemma that dictates that he must either let Rooney rot on the bench, thus letting his value plummet, or risk further disrupting the entire squad's morale by playing him, in a team packed with individuals he clearly feels are not up to the task.

When Rooney does leave, and leave he surely will after such a bitter feud, whether it be to Chelsea, Real Madrid or Manchester City, then Ferguson will be left with the colossal task of keeping a club crippled by debt at the highest echelon of the game.

The great Scotsman was supposed to go out with a bang, not the fizzle that his final years threatens to become.

Rooney's current deal, estimated at being worth £90,000-a-week, can be more than doubled, perhaps even trebled, with the 'noisy neighbours', as Ferguson refers to City. And Rooney and his agent Paul Stretford know this all too well.

It seems loyalty does come at a price, and a high one at that.