Wayne Rooney’s bumper new five-and-a-half year deal at Manchester United was portrayed as an act of desperation. United, in a season spiraling disastrously, were simply throwing money at the problem; and wasting it by paying over the odds.
But the detail of the ground-breaking deal shows it is a far smarter agreement; there is reward and relatively no risk for United while, if it works, it is expected to be rolled out by other clubs for their star players.
Rooney’s new contract does not place him on a higher basic salary such as the ?300,000-a-week that has been claimed. Indeed there is understood to actually be a small drop in the ?240,000-a-week he was being paid – but there is limitless scope for future earnings if he and his adviser Paul Stretford tap into United’s commercial department.
That revolutionary part of the deal has still to be formalized and exists, at present, as an understanding between the two parties rather than something that has been contractually agreed. That in itself demonstrates the goodwill that now exists which is some turnaround from last year.
In essence it means that United, by agreeing the contract, have bought the sole mandate to conduct commercial deals for Rooney. The 28-year-old cannot now go off and negotiate his own deals. If, for example, a Japanese car company want to do a separate negotiation with Rooney then they will have to deal with United.
