Rooney slammed for Ronaldo,Ji-Sung Park comments
Manchester United hero, Wayne Rooney, has been slammed for claiming Ji-Sung Park was as vital to the club as Cristiano Ronaldo during their playing days.
The trio were all team-mates at Old Trafford earlier in their respective careers. And talkSPORT pundit Tony Cascarino has spoken out on Derby County star Rooney for making the claim.
Rooney wrote in his column for The Sunday Times: “It’s crazy but if you mentioned Cristiano Ronaldo to a 12-year-old, they would immediately say, ‘Yeah, he was a brilliant player for Manchester United’, but if you said ‘Park Ji-sung’ they may not know who he was.
“Yet all of us who played with Park know he was almost as important to our success.
“That’s because of what Park gave to the collective and I want to talk about teams. They — not stars — are the most important thing in sport.”
Park won five Premier League titles at United, while Ronaldo won three.
And talkSPORT pundit Cascarino has now hit back at the Derby star, saying: “If that was the case, when Rooney was going for his new contract, why didn’t he ask for the same money as Park Ji-sung and Darren Fletcher?
“Rooney and Ronaldo are very hard to get and that’s why they make the most money. They make the difference.
“You can go and get players who have done a job for you; just look at John O’Shea, Park and Fletcher – there are a number of them who could do a really good job.
“And I’m not undermining them, but that was their job in that team. Man United had the icing on the cake with certain players that you cannot get anywhere.
“If you play for Man United you’re a very, very good footballer, that’s for sure; but there’s a difference between them and Ronaldo. You can’t go and find a Ronaldo unless you play a king’s ransom.
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“If you’re speaking to owners about signing new contracts, you’ll be on a certain rate because of what you are – a player that can be let go easily because another player can do that.”