Honestly don't think he's on £250kpw - if he was, not only would the other top players at the club all start waving their hands in the air and end up with United being screwed over regarding all future contract negotiations when it comes to wages, but he's not worth £250kpw. My best guesses are one of the following happened...

1. Likely started by the agent, they were trying to get more money by quietly mentioning that he'll leave if he's not paid so much more. United called his bluff (hence the media getting involved) to see what would happen. Rooney attempted to get people onside by saying "it's because the owners won't invest!"

2. Rooney has been assured that a significant purchase or two will be attempted in the next two transfer windows.

3. Rooney has been assured (heaven forbid) that if United don't win, players will be facing the axe.

4. Similar to the £250kpw story, but not £250kpw. Closer to £150-200kpw. Possibly a better deal than was on offer but probably nothing close to what his agent was initially demanding.

5. Possibly the least likely but still entirely possible - He's been told to sign a contract "and we'll sell you in a year or two when we can get the most money for it", similar to Ronaldo's situation. Basically, keeping the value up and not much more.

Of course, we'll never really know, but oh well. United may tend to be pretty open with their financial books compared to most clubs, but I don't think they're that open. They do mention how much they pay agents each time, though. Will be interesting to see how much Paul Stretford got out of this.

PR disaster, though. Rooney couldn't have played it much worse when it comes to keeping the fans on his side. It's rather telling that as soon as Rooney made a "statement" (which clearly wasn't written by him!) and the media still slammed him over it, he went back to the negotiating table. Seems to me that Rooney quickly realised that he played this out wrong. Vacuum cleaner salesman may earn a lot of cash for representing Rooney, but I'll be damned if it doesn't show that he's still just that: A vacuum cleaner salesman. Anyone could earn money representing Rooney, but I don't know many agents out there that make things this ty for their client. Then again, I wonder how many clients out there are as easy to work with as "let's see what I can do next" Rooney.

But back to the £250kpw thing. I wish we could afford to pay players as much as any other club, to the extent of £250kpw. It'd be nice to know that our players would never leave for financial reasons alone. But I don't think it'll happen until we get new owners and/or the debt is paid off. Even then, I'm not sure.

EDIT: I love the conspiracy theories floating around about this being rigged. The only thing I can say about them is that if this was rigged, this is one smurfing good way of telling a player "Don't smurf with me" by Sir Alex. If he says you have an injury, you better start making sure you have an injury.