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Nothing wrong with Roo?

64-hodgson-rooney-gtWell the quiet didn’t last long, did it? Less than 36 hours have passed since United lifted their first trophy of the season – admittedly of very limited importance – but football has again been exiled from today’s back pages, with injuries and transfer gossip thundering back on stage, despite having very little to add to what we already knew.

England’s manager Roy Hodgson decided to offer his 20p on the Wayne Rooney saga, by claiming the striker has been injury-free for “several days”and will therefore feature when England face Scotland at Wembley tomorrow night, after missing out on Rio Ferdinand’s testimonial and on the Community Shield because of an unspecified shoulder injury.

The England manager, however, stopped short of claiming that Rooney was match-fit: “At least now he [Rooney] is injury free, but, of course, he isn’t match fit. Everyone knows that – you can’t be match fit if you don’t play matches and you don’t have a chance to take part in every training session. But he has been physically fit for several days now and has trained very hard at Manchester and he has trained with us and we will continue to monitor him and see how feels after [yesterday’s] session.

“I am sure it was a bit more intensive that the sessions he has been able to do pretty much on his own at Manchester United. If, as I expect, he says ‘I am fine’ and trains well [today] then I will have to make that decision about when he plays on Wednesday. But there is no doubt in my mind when if comes through training and is fit he will take part in Wednesday’s game.”

Considering the way United have handed the Rooney saga, it’s safe to say that if they were a PR company they’d have filed for bankruptcy a long time ago, for it’s blatantly clear that, as today’s papers report, the United striker has been omitted from the start XI because of his desire to leave the club.

The injury, real or not, only made David Moyes’ decision easier, but time is running out for all the parties involved in this excruciatingly tedious saga to find a suitable solution before the season begins. United want to keep Rooney, but whether their desire is borne out of a strategy (a word that seems to be largely unknown to the club) rather than the simple refusal to sell one of their prized asset to a direct rival is unclear.

If United are waiting to land one or two signings before allowing Rooney to leave, then he shouldn’t feel in any rush of packing his bags, as Ed Woodward still seems to be lost at sea, even though there are only three weeks left in the transfer window.

For a manager who, as recently last week, had banned transfer talk within the camp, Roy Hodgson was particularly loquacious regarding Rooney’s future, suggesting a move away from United could be the best solution: “It would be very nice if that happened, both for him and his club. My hope and desire is that is what will happen. I have been faced many times with a situation where players are not always playing in their team but because they have the qualities, talent and skills we are looking for, they have been selected.

“I am hoping that won’t be the case with Wayne but I am not prepared to make any statements to suggest if he is not playing he cannot be considered for England. He will always be considered for England whilst he is physically fit because he is one of our best players.”

Dan

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