How trophy hopes ended up in Roons

WAYNE ROONEY has said it.

Alex Ferguson has hinted at it.

Manchester United need a striker.

Of course, United have a few already. Apart from Rooney himself, Ferguson has Dimitar Berbatov and, when fit, Michael Owen to call upon. Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck are players of promise. Now Javier Hernandez can be added to the mix, once he has returned from World Cup duty with Mexico.

The problem is, during the second half of a difficult season, Fergusonsettled on a system. It involved Rooney playing as a lone forward, flanked by two wider players, withadditional attacking impetus coming from midfield.

It worked well. It took United top of the Premier League and enabled them to cruise past AC Milan in the Champions League. And then Rooney got injured.

To be fair to Ferguson, Rooney actually got injured as United were in the process of losing to Bayern Munich. He then missed Chelsea at home. Lost. Was half-fit for the Bayern return. Won, but lost. He missed Blackburn away. Drew. “One bad week” that “cost us everything”, was how Ferguson described it. Yet the results emphasised a point. Without their talisman, United had nobody to fulfil his role with anything like the same conviction.

Owen and Welbeck were injured anyway, but they couldn’t have done it. Neither could Macheda. Berbatov pulled it off at Wolves and Bolton a few weeks earlier but, against a far higher class of team, the Bulgarian looked what he is – a creative prompter rather than an angry battering ram. That crucial week passed him by completely.

In his regular defence of the Glazer family, who came under sustained attack from fans who believe the world record £80m pocketed from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo is going against the debt mountain not towards players, Ferguson insisted he had cash to spend but saw no value in the market.

The sentiment was sound. But, at £30.75m, was Berbatov “value”? Rio Ferdinand’s price tag was £29.1m.Before that Ferguson spent in excess of £28m on Juan Sebastian Veron.

None of these players could be described as “value”, and that iswithout the benefit of hindsight.

It is the rule of the market that commodities are worth what someone is prepared to pay. And buying football players is not like going to purchase a packet of wine gums, you can’t just nip next door and get nearly the same thing for half the price.

Rooney needs back-up. United need someone capable of filling in, or even challenging the 24-year-old for his position.

He cannot be expected to carry the battle alone. In post-World Cup year, when players are often tired and take time to get going, it would be dangerous for United to enter next season in the same state they ended this.

For all the feelings of some that United are a team in decline, thestatistics don’t quite bear it out.

No side has got closer to completing a fourth successive championship win. This season they scored more goals – and conceded fewer – than the team Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez were a part of 12 months ago. There may be concerns in a couple of areas, and Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Edwin van der Sar must surely be heading for their final seasons.

But ability remains in abundance. Nani has it. So too Antonio Valencia. Darren Fletcher has become a central midfield dynamo. At 22, Jonny Evans already has a mountain of experience.

Yet, without a Plan B for the days when Rooney is not around, or the rare occasions – Everton at Goodison Park was one – when he is out of touch, United may find those major trophies dragged further away.