I don’t think you need a crystal football to predict Wayne Rooney will be leaving Old Trafford come the end of the season.

Nobody is outwardly admitting it, but it’s pretty clear the striker is being gradually phased out. Jose Mourinho is doing it gently, as opposed to the way he did it with Bastian Schweinsteiger, but the end result will be similar.

The question is where will Rooney go? He’s still only 31 so I doubt retirement is on his mind. In fact he probably believes – and I am not going to argue otherwise – that he has a good two or three years left at the top level.

There were rumours last week that West Ham United were interested in signing him and, while I can see why they would want him, I really can’t see him wanting them. No offence to West Ham but Rooney will want to go where he can make something special happen, not just be the difference between a mid-table and top-half finish.

So what are the realistic options for United and England’s record goalscorer?

For starters, he could stay with the Red Devils and run down his contract. But that would mean playing an increasingly irrelevant supporting role at a club where he was once the star turn. Not a fitting end to a glittering career.

Alternatively he could follow Schweinsteiger and other legends whose careers are winding down and head over to the US. However, the fact remains that the best Europeans only head to America when they are past their sell-by date. And I don’t think he feels ready to be put out to pasture just yet.

I’m pretty sure other European clubs may be interested in his services although the very best ones will be put off by his age and his inability to hold down a regular place at Manchester United. And I can’t see him moving to Italy, say, to play for a mid-table Serie A team for the same reasons he won’t move to West Ham.

Then, of course, there is China. There were rumours he was going to sign for a Chinese club in the January transfer window, and the fact that the pitches over there are paved with gold may yet tempt him in that direction. But if going to US is accepting that you are past your best, moving to China is admitting you don’t care about football, just money.

But while all of these are genuine options, I don’t think he will follow any of those paths. I think his mind is already made up and we are now merely waiting for the announcement – Rooney’s going home.

Goodison Park is where it all started for Rooney, and returning to his boyhood club for the final leg of his career would rather nicely complete the circle of football life

Goodison Park is where it all started for Rooney, and returning to his boyhood club for the final leg of his career would rather nicely complete the circle of football life.

Can Everton afford him? Well, yes. Firstly they do have a bit of money these days, and secondly, Rooney would probably be prepared to take a substantial wage cut just because it is Everton.

Do Everton need him? Again I would go with a yes. He isn’t as influential as he once was, but given a regular run in a decent and ambitious side, he can make his mark. Being a big fish in a smaller pond will give him added confidence, as will the fact that he will be one of the first names down on the team sheet.

There is no doubting his vast experience of the game and, let’s not forgot, he is also the England captain until we hear otherwise. And that adds a level of prestige that won’t hurt Everton as they try to attract better players to join them in their quest for a top four finish.

And, realistically speaking, if Rooney wants to hold on to the England captaincy, or at least fight for a place in the squad, then moving to Goodison is his best bet. A solid, productive and reasonably prolific season at Everton might be his only chance of making it to Russia 2018.

And how much would he love being able to sign off from the game as the man whose goals led Everton into the Champions League? That might actually mean more to him than all the trophies he has won with United.

Football is notoriously unpredictable. We all know that. However, there seems to be a certain symmetry to the idea of Wayne Rooney finishing his career where it started.

It’s almost like that’s what the football gods had in mind all along. And they are rarely denied what they want…

Odd one out

I would hate to be one of those people whose job it is to calculate the betting odds when it comes to anything to do with Leicester City.

As we all know, they won the Premier League title last season despite the odds against that happening being a rather staggering 5,000 to 1.

But that’s not the only case of them defying logic, is it? Although I don’t have the figures at hand I imagine the odds on them sacking Claudio Ranieri the season after he won them the league were pretty long.

And equally, I think you would have got some pretty serious bang for your buck if you had had a little flutter on them being the only English team to make it through to the Champions League quarter-finals this year.

Given their penchant for sticking two fingers up at the bookmakers’ predictions, I wonder if it might be worth backing them to go on and win the darned thing.

Although they are 40-1 outsiders, they have beaten far greater odds than that over the past year or two.

Just plane wrong

Whether or not Arsene Wenger will stay as manager of Arsenal remains a mystery. He says he knows what he will do, and the rumours are he plans to hang on in there for another two years.

But until some sort of public announcement is made by the man and the club, the uncertainty and unrest continues.

Having said that, I think last weekend’s aeroplane protest over The Hawthorns was a step too far.

I believe, and I have stated it quite clearly several times now, that it is time for Wenger to move on. He needs a fresh challenge and the club needs to be taken in a new direction. Like maybe up the league rather than down it.

However, considering everything he has done for Arsenal over the past two decades he deserves more respect that to have a plane flying over the pitch trailing a “Wenger Out” banner.

That was the sort of protest you reserve for an enemy, not a friend who is struggling.

I’m not suggesting those who want him out don’t have the right to make their feelings known. But Wenger is hardly a villain, and to have his reputation questioned so publically – and at such altitude – is just wrong.

Having said that, it was amusing to see the second, pro-Wenger plane take to the skies during the same game. That’s got to be a first.

A club divided? I think that would be a fair assessment…

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade