Just a season ago, it was unthinkable. But now there are widespread reports that Wayne Rooney is refusing to sign a new contract with Manchester United, and could be on his way out of England.

Last season’s PFA Players’ Player of the Year and top scorer for United has only 18 months left on his contract, so if the reports are true and he is refusing to sign a new contract, the implications are that he is, in fact, angling for a move.

That’s because if he doesn’t sign a new contract in the near future, United will have no choice but to cash in on him. When he enters the final 12 months of his contract, his value will decrease significantly – and United do need the funds.

United's talisman last season is on the verge of leaving the club, according to widespread reports.

Former Liverpool captain Jamie Redknapp, now a columnist for Britain’s DailyMail, is already writing about where, instead of whether, he’ll go. He reckons Manchester City would like to sign him just for the heck of it, but doesn’t think it’ll happen.

But there is the possibility that Rooney is just holding out for better terms on his contract. Footballers do that all the time. Even Ryan Giggs stalled on a contract a couple years ago because he wanted to be offered more than the one-year rolling contract United gives to older players.

The worrying part is, Rooney has never been the kind of player to get calculative over money. An extra five or ten thousand pounds a week isn’t going to make any difference to him anyway. He already has sponsorship deals with Tiger Beer, Coca-cola, EA Sports, Nike and a few others; though Tiger has already put it’s ad campaign with Rooney on hold, and Coca-cola has also decided against putting his face on their Coke Zero cans.

It’s also a worrying change of position. Rooney has always maintained that he would like to see out his career in United, and has been quite adamant about it. So why is he refusing a contract extension all of a sudden?

And don’t forget: Rooney used to say he’d be an Evertonian for life too. Look how that turned out.

What do you guys think? Is Rooney really on his way out of United?