I'd want him to stay if he's used accordingly to his performances on the pitch, not because of his name alone. But I feel like the past 3-4 years throughout Moyes and LVG tenure he's been getting a spot in the first team due to circumstances (and his unbelievable luck) rather than his own performances.
To elaborate on this, the past 3 years since we've had Moyes and LVG, I feel like he was given a spot in the first team due to both managers being new and not attempting to shake too much with Rooney being a key figure in the club and especially to the media. Neither didn't want to throw themselves into controversies by avoiding to deal with Rooney's performances issues as they should have(not good enough performances) and just let him be.
This is where I feel his unbelievable luck come into play. Rooney could have seen himself as a bench warmer or out of the club as early as 3-4 years ago when SAF realized he wasn't good enough anymore and wanted to rid of him. However, fortune smiled upon Rooney and SAF retired leaving Rooney safe. Now with a new manager coming in, Moyes nonetheless, he wouldn't want to do anything too drastic at his new club, especially something as big as shafting Rooney or selling him.
Hence the first thing we had with Moyes was trying to tie down Rooney to a long term contract(which lead to that ridiculous 300k a week salary) in order for him to make a statement and not get into the media crossfire. From that point on Rooney didn't need to play on performances or merit but name alone. Moyes was always going to play safe in regard to a big name like Rooney(a time bomb of the media for new managers to try and mess around with).
Even if a manager sees that Rooney's performances aren't up to par, due to circumstances they'd at least try to show the world and media that Rooney is still their(favored) player and will play him to avoid being over scrutinized and lambasted by the media. The best possible solution is to let Rooney performances do all the talking which have been quite bad the past 4 years or so(even more) then when he starts getting shafted slowly it feels natural and while the media will still whine about it and over sensationalize everything, it won't be as bad as shafting him out from the get go.
Unfortunately the past 3 years we haven't had a stable manager thus making the strategy mentioned impossible. New manager comes in after a year or 2 then we press the restart button with Rooney. Managers have to play him to let the world(media) know that they gave him a chance and progressively shaft him if needed be.
This is why I'd find it favorable if Rooney could have been seen off of something because there wouldn't be this need to play him on name alone. And yes even Mourinho will start with Rooney as a regular starter on name alone to avoid all the predictable media circus which in turn is just another reset button in regard to Rooney. Mou will have to work his way in convincing everyone again that Wayne isn't up to par anymore throughout the season until he pushes him aside but it comes at the cost of wasting another season or two.
This is why Rooney has been unbelievably lucky. Had SAF stayed around for a bit longer or had we had a stable competent manager that lasted 3 years, Rooney wouldn't have been in his current situation where he is facing another prospect of being a regular in our team on name alone despite lackluster performances year in year out for the past 5 years or so.
its ground hog day!
