MANCHESTER UNITED made a big investment when they signed a youngster Wayne Rooney from Everton in 2004.
THE red devils paid nearly £30million for the 18-year-old Everton striker, but in today’s market he would have charged the club a considerably higher fee.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire and Jason Laws of the University of Liverpool have created an inflation calculator that can work out current prices for players from the past.
Maguire explained how the process works on Twitterhe said: “It is based on the total revenue generated by PL each season.
“On the basis that expenditure (whether on salaries or transfer fees) is linked to the ability to pay and therefore to the revenue generated by clubs, therefore reflecting inflation due to rising ticket prices, TV offers, etc.”
And through that process it was suggested that with inflation, Manchester United would have had to pay £118m to acquire the Everton prodigy.
This tax would have Rooney the most expensive teenager in the world until 2017 when Kylian Mbappe joined PSG from Monaco.
The French star cost the Ligue 1 giants £147million.
However, despite the huge fees, it can be said that Rooney turned out to be a brilliant investment for the Red Devils.
The Englishman went on to help the club win five Premier League titles as well as an FA Cup, three League Cups, a Champions League and a Europa League Cup.
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And he became the club’s all-time top scorer with 253 goals and 145 assists for his teammates.
Rooney admitted he forced the move to Manchester United, despite chelsea ready to pay more money for him.
The striker initially wanted to stay at Everton but insisted that if he were to leave it would only be for Old Trafford.
He said Tony Bellew’s BBC Podcast in 2021: “I was pushed to go and play for Chelsea because they offered the most money, but I said ‘you don’t dictate where I go – I want to go to Manchester United’.
“It was wasted money for Everton, but that’s where I wanted to play. I didn’t want to go to London, I didn’t want to go to Chelsea. But I was told the only way to going to Man Utd is to apply for a transfer.
“It was in Moyesy’s office. So I went to the canteen and wrote ‘I Wayne Rooney request transfer from Everton Football Club’ on a napkin, or something! I entered Moyesy’s desk and said ‘there you go’.
“I felt like I was pushed back into a corner to some extent, but that’s football.”