Wayne Rooney’s days at Manchester United seem to be numbered, after the striker revealed to be “angry” and “confused” at the treatment received by the club and, particularly, by David Moyes’ decision to brand him as a squad player, rather than making him the team’s focal point, a position Rooney held before the arrival of Robin Van Persie.
With the news breaking late yesterday afternoon, today the story is splashed across almost every back page in the country, with new details on the relationship between Wayne Rooney and the club slowly beginning to emerge, with Chelsea and Arsenal interested spectators.
The Sun claims that if Jose Mourinho and Chelsea are to land their top target, they’ll have to fork out almost £80m , with a transfer fee of £28m to be added to a £200,000-a-week contract, worth £52m over five years. Considering that Rooney would be almost 33 in five year time, he would represent a huge investment for Chelsea, considering they would spend £80m on a player with virtually no re-sale value, but money has never been a problem in South West London.
The Mirror believes that Chelsea are clear favourites to land Rooney, but the tabloid also adds – although without specifying any source – that Rooney “feels he is being driven out of the club after five months of negativity which is tantamount to ‘constructive dismissal’”. The last straw for the United striker, says the Mirror, was being told by David Moyes that he would have to play second fiddle to Robin Van Persie who, ironically, was exactly the sort of player Rooney wanted United to sign when he accused the club of lacking ambition in October 2010.
Rooney, continues the Mirror, fears he would spend the next two years at Old Trafford treated as a “non person” given that United have made abundantly clear they’re not scared of running down a contract although, as specified in the article, selling Rooney this summer would make a lot more sense for United would avoid to losing the striker for free.
Selling Rooney would also help United finance a club record bid for Cesc Fabregas, reports the Mirror. The story, in truth, seems rather far-fetched considering that Tito Villanova yesterday categorically denied the Spanish midfielder has any intentions to leave Barcelona, but the tabloid believes the Catalans are indeed willing to listen to an offer, but it’ll have to be in the excess of £30m – United’s club record bid currently are the £30.8m spent on Dimitar Berbatov – rather than the £26m United have already offered.
Fellow Spaniard David De Gea has endorsed the prospect of Fabregas moving to Old Trafford: “It would be great if Cesc came here,” said the United number 1. “It would be great to have more Spanish players at Manchester United.
“He’s a great player; very skilful, knows how to win things. You always want those type of players in your team.”
Meanwhile, the Independent reports that Manchester United target Marouane Fellaini will snub Arsenal in favour of a move to Old Trafford, as he’s thought to be unwilling to relocate down south from the north west, while the prospect of being reunited with former Everton manager David Moyes would be extremely appealing to the Belgian.
