Rooney's Value

We all know Wayne Rooney's contributions to club and country but how do we place a value on his usefulness? Manchester United, for instance, paid Everton £25.6 million in transfer rights before the 2004-05 season to secure his position. Rooney himself earns £90,000 per week excluding bonuses for goals, appearances and &c. He makes more from advertisers who value him in the millions. All in, he could easily rake over $20 million. Eitan, for his part, values Rooney at £4.15 which is what he bids this morning on eBay for the Wayne Rooney Match Attack trading card. Plus 75p postage. A pack of six Match Attack cards BTW goes for 35p on the high street but sadly, no pink bubble gum stick like in my old days. Eitan's pricing £3 over the going bid and represents the entirety of his savings depleted already from the neighborhood toy-store Pandemonium. When I ask him to confirm his order before I click, he replies: "what do I care about money? I'm just a kid." (we are going to have a little talk later about this one). I like the idea of Eitan experimenting, under my watch, with eBay to understand the idea of a market with multiple players each with a unique value interpretation. eBay makes it exciting - we now around awaiting the outcome - Eitan in nervous expectation but he is plump out of money should Rooney go higher. I cannot imagine.

Madeleine earns Star-Player status for today's morning effort.

Photo from AbC News.