Chelsea are so confident that they will land Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney that they do not have a backup plan involving alternative targets.
The Daily Star believe that Jose Mourinho is convinced that they will sign the England international but are holding off on their second bid as United may be more willing to negotiate if/when they can agree a deal for Barcelona’s Cesc Fabregas.
Publicly the Red Devils are sticking to their guns and have reaffirmed that Rooney is not for sale on several occasions. They have also used his image to promote the friendly against AIK Fotball in Stockholm, when he’s due to return to action after recovering from his hamstring injury.
The rumours persist though. Apparently Rooney was allowed to play on an exclusive golf course close to the Cobham training ground and people have speculated over what the ‘lovely surprise’ his wife Coleen tweeted about was, with many believing it could be the purchase of property in London.
There’s also a lot of money being put on Rooney’s transfer to Chelsea. He’s odds on with most bookmakers and Coral have it priced as short as 2/5.
I’m not entirely convinced by the whole thing and am not sure if Rooney would be the right man for Chelsea as he would come with huge wages and his relationship with his current club has become messy, and not for the first time. There is a fear that splashing out on a player that hasn’t been at his best for a little while now is frighteningly similar to the purchase of Fernando Torres.
But Mourinho may be keen to add English talent to the squad and has been a long-term admirer of Rooney, who may just been a new challenge to reinvigorate his career. A lot has been taken out of context in relation to what David Moyes said about Rooney being used if Robin van Persie was injured but what he actually said was that he’s an important player for the club, can play a number of roles before mentioning that he needs alternatives to the main forward.
Who knows where this will end up but I just can’t see Manchester United selling to another Premier League club.
Source: Daily Star
