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Former United coach lifts lid on transfer saga

Manchester-United-FC-v-CFR-1907-Cluj--UEFA-Champions-League-1474892Newspapers’ back pages rarely happen to agree with one another. Today, however, their verdict is unanimous in claiming that Wayne Rooney’s days at Old Trafford are numbered, after former United’s assistant coach, Mike Phelan, revealed some details on the striker’s future in an interview with BBC Five Live.

David Moyes and Rooney are set for a meeting today as the new United manager will try to solve the issue regarding the striker’s future once and for all, for if it was allowed to linger through the summer it could destabilise the team as well as hindering United’s movement in the transfer market.

The interview is pretty much reported by every newspaper today, with the Telegraph quoting most of it: “He is still is at the greatest club he could be at, so why would you want to jeopardise that unless you want a fresh challenge and you don’t think that challenge is being met at Manchester United?”

“He might have hit a little bit of a blip in certain performances and then it’s easy to find fault with that, but he isn’t the first player to do that and he won’t be the last,” said Phelan.

“You just have to nurse them through it and hopefully he responds to that little bit of nursing. But sometimes you have to crack the whip with him, because they’re men, not children.

“You have to get as much out of them as you can and I think Wayne has responded as well as he feels he can do for Manchester United.

Phelan added that Rooney hasn’t helped his cause by making his feelings public and looking constantly unsettled at the club: “I think you can put your first one down to inexperience maybe, the second one is putting yourself right out there,” he said. “Somewhere along the line there will, I would think, be some words said, there will be some meetings, and they’ll see if its still alive and worth going for or they’ll call time on it.”

The Sun also reports the interview adding that, despite a first secret meeting between Moyes and Rooney that took place a couple of days ago, both parties are far away and Rooney will end up to either Arsenal, Chelsea, Barcelona or PSG for around £25m, while the Daily Star rules the French giants out of the running on the basis that Rooney is unlikely to be willing to leave England.

The Mirror, however, claims Rooney could still have a future at Old Trafford but that hinges on the chances of Sir Alex Ferguson apologising to the striker. The striker, says the tabloid, wants United to set the record straight and clarify he did not ask to leave, presumably to regain a bit of popularity with the fans.

The chances of that happening, however, seem rather slim.

Dan