We have to congratulate our club. Selling Rossi for £6.7m is a brilliant bit of business.Lets own up, we took the bait. Rossi was dangled on a line to us and we bit down hard on it, as we hoped to boast of another young talent coming through from the reserves to the first team. Now that he has gone, it seems strange that only a handful of people were prepared to question why this prolific scorer in the reserves failed to secure first team appearances more regularly at Old Trafford. Only a few scratched the surface on why he went unused at Newcastle and why he was returned (albeit) on loan to Parma, where he was first found. It also escaped most people’s attention that at 20 he was still only representing his country on a few occasions and then only at Under 21 level. An achievement not to be totally knocked but when you compare him to Rooney, Ronaldo, O’Shea and Fletcher – all of whom received call ups to their respective senior squad by 20 despite good competition for places. People will say its Italy not Scotland and that’s fair comment to an extent but lets be clear, age is no barrier when you are good enough. Rooney and Ronaldo are obvious United examples. For me, Rossi was only 'world class' in the minds of those that were swayed by a careful run campaign by United that resulted in the club taking near £7m for a player that did little in the Premiership, nothing to note in any cup competition but scored a few for Parma during a very short second stint of around a dozen games at the club. People forget this money is the same amount Arsenal paid for a certain Tomas Rosicky last summer…that's incredible.
I wish Rossi the best but I take my hat off to those who manufactured the hype, as rarely can a player who has done so little go for so much. Breathtaking...
