There is no doubting the big story in sports this week – Wayne Rooney is the name on everybody's lips. In fact it has transcended just the sports headlines and has entered the arena of general discussion, to the point where radio presenters who may know next to nothing about the subject feel fit to pontificate on what is currently happening in Manchester.

Anybody with half an interest in soccer will have realised that the past fifteen years has witnessed a gargantuan growth in the game's popularity and marketability, particularly in England. Thanks to various factors such as lucrative television deals, the influence of some top class foreign players and the largesse of some pretty rich overseas businessmen, English football at the top level is now bloated to an extraordinary level.

Clubs such as Chelsea and Manchester City are now sitting at the top table, no longer feeding off scraps but rather feasting on all the best that English football has to offer. They are buying their way to the top, and you will need large pockets to stop them. Clubs such as Manchester United and Liverpool, who attempted to go down the sugar daddy route also, are now finding themselves wheezing as the new kids on the block storm past. Money is king in English soccer.

Of course it was not always that way as the great industrial cities of England produced teams that truly represented their areas, that truly meant where they came from. Manchester United, Liverpool, Everton, Newcastle, and Arsenal – all were made up of British people and later Irish, and had an affinity with the area that added to their appeal.

Today that is all gone. The English game is in real danger of bloating itself to such an extent that it will vomit up any remaining authenticity that it has. English football today represents at times something tawdry, where the Pound speaks loudest and the fan is left watching, wondering where it will all end up.

There was a match in the Premier League last winter that saw Arsenal visit Portsmouth – not one English player started for either side. A sign of the times.

The Wayne Rooney story is only a natural progression of what has been happening in the English game. Everybody has their price, even Rooney. Apparently the 24 year-old is unhappy with the direction that United are taking, but others are suggesting that a proposed pay packet of almost £250,000 Sterling per week is what is enticing the former Evertonian away from Old Trafford.

And what of it, some might say, should he not be entitled to earn what the market dictates? If some club feels that Wayne is worth £1 million a month, why should the lad feign indifference and turn his back?

It's a simple logic that is hard to argue with, for professional footballers were long enough treated as slaves before Jimmy Hill and the PFA did great work in the 1960s to improve their lot.

Ask yourself this question – if you were as skilled at your profession as Rooney is, and were in massive demand, would you not go where you felt you would be best rewarded? Would you seriously refuse an increase in pay under the pretence that it was massively inflated and beyond reason?

My guess is that you would not, but would rather wish to gain the best deal for you and your family. Factor in that Rooney is in a profession that can be ended in a split second due to injury, and it is obvious why one of the best players of his generation would want to strike while the iron is hot.

Rooney's whole life is soccer, he knows nothing else. When he retires from paying he will not have another trade to fall back on and will be unlikely to enter the media sector. His time for earning is now. Procrastination is his enemy.

So, when Rooney says he is unhappy with the direction United are taking, he is perhaps being a little disingenuous. It is more likely that his head has been turned by the massive financial rewards that would be available at City or Chelsea (or perhaps even Real Madrid).

Ferguson, the wily old fox, has played a blinder with the media. His six minute soliloquy was a masterpiece, and won him the PR contest hands down. Here was the portrayal of Fergie the loyal club man, broken and disheartened by the younger man's greed and temerity to thumb his nose at such an institution as Manchester United.

The truth is probably somewhere between Ferguson's incredulity and Rooney's frustration at the Old Trafford squad. Never underestimate the power of money to do strange things to the human psyche. Rooney may have looked across town and saw the rivers of gold flowing through Eastlands. Why would one of England's most talented players not be envious when he saw lesser men picking up substantially more than him every week, yet with nothing to show for their efforts on the field of play?

Rooney, despite the hype and massive advertising campaigns, is only human after all. He wants to access his full market worth while he is at his peak – a fair motive for any man. The line about not being happy with the future direction of the Old Trafford squad may be heartfelt from Rooney as well, or it may be just a decoy.

What is clear is that money is now dictating English football more than ever today, and has robbed a once beautiful game of its soul. If Wayne Rooney does transfer across the city of Manchester it will once and for all put paid to the idea that there is any loyalty remaining in the game – a by-product of professionalism and a wake-up call for those many fans who delude themselves that such is not the case.

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