IF any further proof were required that money in football has long been out of control, then Wayne Rooney's new deal at Manchester United provides it.

The England striker will be paid £300,000 a week at Old Trafford after extending his contract by four years.

Putting aside that such a figure is, quite frankly, morally obscene, it is difficult to see how this benefits anyone other than Rooney himself.

The 28-year-old will still be either instinctively brilliant or infuriating petulant regardless of how big his bank balance is.

Also, United have become so desperate to protect their image both at home and in the Far East that they have bowed to the demands of their star man.

You can bet Rooney and his advisors knew that.

All this deal does is inflate the market for other players haggling for an improved deal, or a move to another club, and so the situation will continue to snowball.

How long before the first £1million-a-week player? By current trends, it will be sooner than we might think.

People will say that Rooney should take what he can get, and that his agent clearly knows how to negotiate. But that's not the point.

These sorts of figures are surely not sustainable. At some point something has to give, whether it be players' demands or clubs going bust as a result of their insatiable desire for success.

The moral pendulum has swung too far one way for there to be a way back.

Where will it all end?