There is only one issue dominating the back pages on Monday morning and that is the bombshell that Wayne Rooney has refused to discuss a contract extension at Manchester United as he looks to leave the club.

Though United are yet to make any comment on the story, the papers are united in proclaiming a total breakdown in relations between Rooney and Sir Alex Ferguson - a scenario that was previously thought to be near impossible.

But what does the news mean for United?

Richard Williams, writing in The Guardian, warns that losing Rooney could not only impinge on United’s chances of winning silverware, it could also hasten the retirement of Ferguson himself.

"Ferguson has been here before, of course. David Beckham, Paul Ince, Jaap Stam and Ruud van Nistelrooy were world-class players who left the club at the manager's instigation, having incurred his displeasure. But Rooney, who is still only 24, was bought from Everton to become a keystone in Ferguson's last great side – the one that would not only continue his run of domestic success but give him a third European Cup victory, to be won in the style that eluded his otherwise successful teams in 1999 and 2008.

"Rooney's decision will make observers – and perhaps even Ferguson himself – wonder whether such an ambition remains within the realms of possibility. As things stand, particularly in the long-term absence of Antonio Valencia and Owen Hargreaves, the team has barely enough quality to cope with a challenge for this season's Premier League title.

"The manager has surely found himself relying on his old guard – Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville – for far longer than he ever envisaged when they first formed the locally produced core of his first-team squad a decade and a half ago. Given the constant need to introduce fresh blood of matching quality, to lose so gifted a young player as Rooney at this stage seems almost like carelessness."

Matt Lawton picks up the theme in the Daily Mail as he asks just what exactly Ferguson has done to incur the displeasure of Rooney - a man who bizarrely appears to have adopted the persona of a victim in the matter.

"The manager appears to have done little wrong to date. It is not his fault, after all, that the future of Rooney’s marriage is being discussed on the front pages while his professional future is being debated on the back.

"It is also not his fault that Rooney is behaving in the extreme manner that he is. While it is Ferguson’s style to close ranks, Rooney has chosen to challenge his manager publicly. Ferguson might yet decide that enough is enough and there is nothing more he can do."

The Independent’s Sam Wallace takes a slightly different tack to his Fleet Street colleagues as he pinpoints a lack of ambition on the part of the club as one of the reasons behind Rooney’s desire to leave. How often do you hear that said about Manchester United?

"Rooney does not want to commit his future to the club because, it is understood, he does not believe that they are investing in new players to replace the old guard of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville. The new contract offered to him thus far is not comparable to the top earners at Manchester City or what he could earn if he left as a free agent when his current deal expires in June 2012. And if Rooney will not sign a new contract then it follows that United will have to sell if they are not to lose him for nothing.

"Rooney is applying a very harsh logic to United's situation and one which some of their fans will regard as unpardonable. But his refusal to sign a new contract is based upon the blunt realities of football. He wants more money and greater ambition than the club can offer him. It is the clearest signal yet, after more than five years under the Glazer family's ownership, that United are in decline."