Wayne`s reign is Ron`s pain

While Cristiano Ronaldo seems weighed down by the fall-out from the summer’s Real Madrid transfer saga, Wayne Rooney looks a new man.

Almost as if he has been liberated by Ronaldo’s travails.

For two years, almost from the moment he was sent off (with some connivance from the Winker) at Germany 2006, Rooney has been blowing hot and cold in Ronaldo’s slipstream.

Now, though, Rooney’s instinct tells him it’s time to regain the crown.

That Ronaldo has been psychologically affected by the events of the summer. That the double Footballer of the Year is unsure exactly what United fans feel about him.

That, with Dimitar Berbatov still to settle and Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes in the autumn of their glittering careers, he has to pick up the baton.

We have seen a huge maturing in a player who is still only 22. He seems to relish the new-found responsibility he has placed on himself.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo frets. In time, Alex Ferguson may even regret not accepting the £70million Madrid put on the table.

In the prevailing economic climate, they won’t be offered the same amount this summer.

Writer : STEVEN HOWARD