AT the moment John Terry says farewell to Stamford Bridge by helping to lift the Premier League trophy, Wayne Rooney may be waving a much lower-key goodbye to Old Trafford.
Terry’s departure from Chelsea has been well-trailed, perfectly orchestrated and swathed in the glory of yet more silverware.
The meaningless home game against Crystal Palace could be the final time Manchester United fans see a man who might easily qualify for a “Captain, Leader, Legend” banner had it not been effectively patented by his former England teammate.
Rooney says he wants to play for United next season. But few people are fooled. His slide towards the exit door has been unexpectedly rapid.
Now most believe he will be anywhere but United – China, America, Everton, Forest Green Rovers – when Jose Mourinho fields an expensively-restructured team on the opening day of next season.
Rooney’s descent from the day he led the team out for the Community Shield last August, as a vital component of the new Mourinho era, to now, when the manager only plays him in games that don’t matter, has been stark.
Six games into the season Mourinho dropped him for the first time and United beat Leicester 4-1. Nothing has been the same since.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, four years older, and Marcus Rashford, 12 years younger, have relegated Rooney to third-choice striker at the club he’s ruled for 13 years.
Off the field his season has been punctuated by niggling injuries, illnesses and unwanted front page stories about alcohol consumption and casino losses.
He may have become United’s record scorer, but his patchy form has enabled Gareth Southgate to ease him out of the England set-up. The chances of him going to Russia next summer, let alone beating Peter Shilton’s cap record, are rapidly receding.
But, if today is to be Rooney’s last at Old Trafford, it would be entirely unfair for this season to define his United career.
He has been a regular matchwinner, the team’s driving force and the single most-influential English player in the Premier League for more than a decade.
His lifestyle choices may have influenced the rapidness of his decline, and his struggles this season have been sad to watch.
But make no mistake, Rooney has been just as much a United great as Terry has been at Chelsea and he deserves the same respect when he leaves.
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