Wayne Rooney to Arsenal? Maybe?

Here's the thing about rumors. They're easy to create. I heard yesterday from someone connected with baseball that the Mariners were very interested in acquiring Miguel Cabrera from the Tigers, to fill a Kendrys Morales-sized hole at DH. See? That's how easy it is to create a rumor, and with blogging platforms and Twitter, even the most inane thing can become a rumor as fast as one can type. None of it has any real basis in reality; there's no sourcing, no accountability, and no basis to believe that 99% of rumors are anything more than wishcasting.

With that in mind, I give you this. This is not just a rumor - Wayne Rooney to Arsenal! Whee! - but it's a rumor of the worst kind. It's a rumor that hits a nerve with a fan base who is tired of seeing their club "underachieve", and it's a rumor that has some actual playing sense behind it (Rooney would fit well at Arsenal). But that's not the worst part. The worst part is the fuel being used to lend the rumor credence is the fact that - wait for it - this time, Wenger didn't give the answer he usually gives when asked questions about transfer targets! GUYS THAT TOTALLY MEANS THIS IS GONNA HAPPEN

There is a world in which Rooney-to-Arsenal makes sense. That world, though, doesn't exist at Rooney's reported £300K/week salary; for the Rooney rumor to have any sort of basis in reality, he'll have to drop his wage demands rather aggressively, and at age 27 and still playing well, he might not be willing to do that. More to the point, though, is that as of now, there's no real basis to think Rooney-to-Arsenal will happen; Wenger's getting questions about it but there's really nothing anywhere in the world that suggests it's a thing, except for a question that was answered differently than it has been in the past.