Rooney To Go For Next To Nothing? Not Likely....

Wayne Rooney would never be allowed to leave Everton for next to nothing

It would simply never happen. The Everton boy wonder would be off to Manchester United / Newcastle / Chelsea / Real Madrid on a bosman as soon as his contract was up.

Whilst Rooney's new club would have to pay several million pounds in compensation to secure the services of the teenage sensation who rocked the footballing world this summer with a series of stunning performances as Euro 2004, Everton would be as good as giving away their most valuable asset.

For in the crazy, bizarre and intense world of football, contracts rule supreme these days.

If a big star is approaching the end of his current deal the club will quickly open discussions over a new contract.

And if he is refusing to sign a new one, he will be sold quick snap - just ask Real Madrid's Michael Owen and Tottenham's Michael Carrick.

Yet the same seemingly does not apply at Reading Football Club. The Royals have adopted a crazy policy of allowing contracts to expire before they sit down to discuss new ones.

Whilst the club bucked the trend by giving Steve Sidwell and Graeme Murty new long term deals this summer, they are the exceptions to the rule.

Reading's prehistoric transfer policy is costing them millions - and could ultimately be the difference between Premiership and Championship football.

Whilst Darren Caskey and Jamie Cureton have seen their careers go downhill after leaving the Royals at the end of their contracts, had the club had the duo committed to new deals then if the then highly-rated duo wished to leave the club they could do so only in a mega money transfer deal.

One would have thought that Reading would learn from their mistakes. However, this summer the club goofed things up again, allowing Jamie Ashdown to walk out of the club at the end of his contract.

Ashdown, like Rooney, is under the age of 24 so Reading will get some compensation for his departure. Yet the fee, perhaps £300,000, is not enough to sign another goalkeeper of similar ability.

And with thirty-one-year-old forward Nicky Forster approaching the end of his current deal, and reportedly keen to secure his long-term future at the club, the Royals must act now.

Reading must move now to secure Forster's future

Forster, arguably the club's most valuable player, would have no end of suitors if his contract was allowed to run down to it's last three months.

Championship rivals Wigan made a cheeky bid for the ex-England under 21 forward earlier this year which the Royals were quick to reject.

Wigan could have been persuaded to pay as much as £1m for Fozzy, yet next summer they may be able to get him for nothing.

A seven-figure sum would have more than compensated for the loss of Forster, as Coppell could have spent big in the transfer market. Yet next summer we may have no £1m and no Forster.

John Madejski often states that Reading Football Club is a business and should be run like a business - thus it would be wrong to invest millions chasing Premiership football.

Mr Madejski is a top businessman, and whilst we may not like what he says, when we consider the plight of the once free spending Derby, Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday it is hard not to agree with his views.

But if the club is to be run like a business we must not allow valuable players to leave for nothing at the end of their contracts.