Home   >   Transfer News   >   Wayne Roooney to be sixth highest earning footballer with new United deal

Wayne Roooney to be sixth highest earning footballer with new United deal

By on February 21, 2014

Wayne Rooney has become the world’s sixth highest after-tax earner after penning a new five-and-a-half year contract at Manchester United worth £85 million which also makes him the highest earning Englishman ever.  The new deal is set to keep him at United until he is thirty-three in June 2019 making a luxurious £300,000-a-week, while also letting manager David Moyes breath a huge sigh of relief by keeping one of United’s main men.

Rooney has already scored 208 goals for United since joining the club from Everton in 2004 as an 18-year-old, and if he stays injury free is almost surely going to become United’s all time top goalscorer ahead of Sir Bobby Charlton, who netted 249 goals as a Red.  The 28-year-old has become an even more important figure at United following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, playing a part in over a third of the Red Devils’s goals since Ronaldo left the club in 2009, finding the back of the net 130 times and making 37 assists.  Yet the English international seemed bound to leave the club over the past few years after rows with former manager Sir Alex Ferguson, and even had more than one bid from Premier League rivals Chelsea for him turned down by united last summer.

This just makes the accomplishment of tying him down to the club even more satisfsctory for Moyes, especially during a rough first season in charge of United. But United were forced to pay some big bucks to keep the forward, with the new contract set to make Rooney the world’s sixth highest after-tax earner behind only his former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Radamel Falcao, Thiago Silva, and Lionel Messi.

However, that seems to be worth is considering the fact that Rooney is also set to become United’s captain next season as Nemanja Vidic made clear of his wanting to leave Old Trafford next summer.  The won’t have it easy though, as he and his United teammates are set for a tough fight to earn a Champions League spot, which they are currently eleven points away from in the Premier League sitting in seventh place.  Moyes will also be eying another way to qualify in actually winning this seasons Champions League as his Premier League hopes drain away, but that might be even tougher than to finish the season in fourth the in the league.

Yet Rooney was hopeful, saying via a statement on released United’s official website:  “I am made up to be staying at United.  In August I will have been at the club for 10 years and during that time I have played with some fantastic players and won everything that I hoped I would when I first signed. I now have the chance as one of the club’s senior players to help the younger players coming through and to be a part of another great United team.

“The fans have always been a huge part of this club and the support they have given me since my debut against Fenerbahce has been amazing. I am very grateful to all United fans around the world for their continued support.

“I am really excited to be a part of the club’s future and want to thank David Moyes and Ed Woodward for their belief and support in me. I am convinced that this is the start of another successful chapter in Manchester United’s history.”

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.