OPINION
Alan Brazil surely claims that DC United attacker Wayne Rooney could do a job for a team like West Ham due to the Hammers’ reputation of gambling on ageing players.
Brazil shared he was reluctant to name English sides that the 33-year-old forward could still do well at, but then ended up naming Burnley, twice, the Hammers and Aston Villa as teams, Rooney could do a job for.
“He could easily star I think against the top sides in the Championship, I don’t want to pick teams out, but I was gonna say teams like a Burnley, a West Ham or a Burnley or a Villa, he could surely play in there surely?” said Brazil on talkSPORT (8:52am, Tuesday August 6th).
Brazil’s remarks following on from Dean Saunders’ earlier remarks on talkSPORT, as the former Liverpool forward claimed West Ham fans would sign Rooney tomorrow if they could.
While the Hammers could do with another forward after only welcoming Sebastien Haller after letting Andy Carroll, Lucas Perez and Marko Arnautovic move on, there’s a reason why Rooney isn’t about to return to the Premier League.
In fact, current, the DC United forward is primed to agree on a deal to become a player-coach at Derby County, as reported by Sky News, and there is a reason why he looks set to play his football in the Championship from January onwards with the Rams confirming an agreement with him on Twitter.
Rooney may have scored 13 goals, while assisting seven, for his current MLS side in 2019, but the fact he is 33-years-old and his last season in the Premier League didn’t go to plan, surely shows that teams like the Hammers would be gambling on him rolling back the years to cope with the demands of England’s top-flight.
The 33-year-old may have scored 10 league goals for Everton in the 2017/18 season, across 31 outings, but he averaged a rating of 6.64 which was lower than his eight league campaigns before it, which shows he was starting to struggle more than ever in the Premier League. (Source: WhoScored)
The Hammers have a reputation from recent seasons of taking chances on players who may be past their peak years.
For example, look at the signing of Samir Nasri in January, the Hammers signed the Premier League winner, despite him being 31-years-old and not having played football for 13 months. (Source: BBC)
This move showed that the Hammers were open to considering ageing proven Premier League players and you feel that weighed on Brazil’s mind when naming dropping the London club in the conversation about Rooney.
