Article:
WAYNE ROONEY returned to first-team training with Manchester United yesterday and will play for England at Wembley on Wednesday with David Moyes’ blessing – scotching stories of a fallout between the pair.
Relations between Moyes and Rooney, it is understood, are cordial and the two have held regular meetings on Rooney’s future in the last fortnight. There remains a fundamental difference in their positions – Rooney still wants to join Chelsea, Moyes is vehemently against selling him – but the dialogue is allowing a working relationship to be maintained.
Despite reports Rooney was sent to train with United’s reserve players on Thursday and Friday as a punishment, it was the player himself who asked to work with the second string – because a shoulder problem meant he couldn’t do the contact work that would have been involved with first-team training.
Yesterday, Rooney was back with the first team and though he has not recovered from his injury sufficiently to be considered for duty in today’s Community Shield he is expected to play against Scotland on Wednesday, with Moyes encouraging Roy Hodgson to select him.
“I am pleased. I had a long conversation with Roy last week about it, told him Wayne’s situation,” said Moyes in an interview to be broadcast today on MUTV. “Wayne has had a shoulder injury, which has meant he has not been able to have any contact, and he has been sore with it, so he hasn’t trained with us he has trained a little bit with the reserves as a non-contact player, a floating player, but at least he got a little bit of football work.
“He trained with the first team today [Saturday] and he did a bit of extra work, so he is probably more likely to be ready for England than he will be for us. You’ve got to remember he is going to play for England and he has had no football practice, but I explained all this to Roy.”
Moyes added he did not expect Hodgson to use Rooney for a full 90 minutes and joked: “Hopefully, Wayne is not in too good form because it would be good if Scotland could get a result.”
Moyes hopes to be able to use Rooney in his first Premier League match as United manager, versus Swansea on Saturday, and subsequently to remotivate him in United’s cause. The latter seems a tall order, given Rooney’s entrenched desire for a fresh start away from Old Trafford.
Chelsea have offered £25m but their bid is regarded as risible by United – especially given the fees paid for strikers this summer such as £26m for Roberto Soldado (by Tottenham) and Liverpool’s £50m-plus valuation of Luis Suarez.
A further, much higher Chelsea bid is expected, but it may be lodged after United and Chelsea meet in the Premier League on August 26 because any sale would be politically impossible for United before then.
However, Moyes remains set against any consideration of a sale and is focused on pushing through moves for a star creative midfielder, having missed out on Cesc Fabregas, and for Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines.
Despite reports, Luka Modric is not believed to be among United’s current key targets. A double offer for Fellaini and Baines is likely but it may be in the region of £30m – about £10m less than Everton believe the pair are worth.
A £23.5m get-out clause in Fellaini’s contract elapsed on August 1 without any club willing to meet it. Meanwhile, United have signalled they are not inclined to improve on a £12m offer for Baines.
Roberto Martinez has emphasised to the England left-back that he is wanted at Goodison – though Baines would be attracted by the challenge of playing for United and stepping up to the Champions League.
Relations between Moyes and Rooney, it is understood, are cordial and the two have held regular meetings on Rooney’s future in the last fortnight. There remains a fundamental difference in their positions – Rooney still wants to join Chelsea, Moyes is vehemently against selling him – but the dialogue is allowing a working relationship to be maintained.
Despite reports Rooney was sent to train with United’s reserve players on Thursday and Friday as a punishment, it was the player himself who asked to work with the second string – because a shoulder problem meant he couldn’t do the contact work that would have been involved with first-team training.
Yesterday, Rooney was back with the first team and though he has not recovered from his injury sufficiently to be considered for duty in today’s Community Shield he is expected to play against Scotland on Wednesday, with Moyes encouraging Roy Hodgson to select him.
“I am pleased. I had a long conversation with Roy last week about it, told him Wayne’s situation,” said Moyes in an interview to be broadcast today on MUTV. “Wayne has had a shoulder injury, which has meant he has not been able to have any contact, and he has been sore with it, so he hasn’t trained with us he has trained a little bit with the reserves as a non-contact player, a floating player, but at least he got a little bit of football work.
“He trained with the first team today [Saturday] and he did a bit of extra work, so he is probably more likely to be ready for England than he will be for us. You’ve got to remember he is going to play for England and he has had no football practice, but I explained all this to Roy.”
Moyes added he did not expect Hodgson to use Rooney for a full 90 minutes and joked: “Hopefully, Wayne is not in too good form because it would be good if Scotland could get a result.”
Moyes hopes to be able to use Rooney in his first Premier League match as United manager, versus Swansea on Saturday, and subsequently to remotivate him in United’s cause. The latter seems a tall order, given Rooney’s entrenched desire for a fresh start away from Old Trafford.
Chelsea have offered £25m but their bid is regarded as risible by United – especially given the fees paid for strikers this summer such as £26m for Roberto Soldado (by Tottenham) and Liverpool’s £50m-plus valuation of Luis Suarez.
A further, much higher Chelsea bid is expected, but it may be lodged after United and Chelsea meet in the Premier League on August 26 because any sale would be politically impossible for United before then.
However, Moyes remains set against any consideration of a sale and is focused on pushing through moves for a star creative midfielder, having missed out on Cesc Fabregas, and for Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines.
Despite reports, Luka Modric is not believed to be among United’s current key targets. A double offer for Fellaini and Baines is likely but it may be in the region of £30m – about £10m less than Everton believe the pair are worth.
A £23.5m get-out clause in Fellaini’s contract elapsed on August 1 without any club willing to meet it. Meanwhile, United have signalled they are not inclined to improve on a £12m offer for Baines.
Roberto Martinez has emphasised to the England left-back that he is wanted at Goodison – though Baines would be attracted by the challenge of playing for United and stepping up to the Champions League.
