England forward confident of Chelsea switch

Wayne Rooney is confident that a move to Chelsea can be secured and has told his team-mates that he will be going to Stamford Bridge, according to ESPN.

The Blues have already had two bids rejected for the 27-year-old but have no given up the chase and Jose Mourinho said that he will not give up on signing him.

ESPN‘s ‘sources’ claim that several Manchester United players are unhappy with Rooney as their appeals for him to stay at Old Trafford have fallen on death ears and he’s told his team-mates that he wants to join Chelsea.

The issues between player and club have been going on for some time and it’s no surprise that things have blown up this summer after Sir Alex Ferguson said Rooney was unsettled and asked to leave at the end of last season. David Moyes has expressed his wish to keep him as he is an important player, but said that he’s second choice in his preferred position.

Since then the player has only played 45 minutes of football during the pre-season and has been kept out of the way by seemingly convenient hamstring and shoulder injuries. He didn’t even feature in last night’s testimonial against Sevilla for Rio Ferdinand, his colleague and friend.

Despite being injured for his club and training with the kids (through choice, say United’s PR) he is available for selection for his country and thanked Roy Hodgson for his faith in him and expressed his desire to get back on the pitch, which many have not only read as a dig at Moyes but he’s telling us that he is fit to play. It’s open for interpretation, you can read it however you want.

There have also been reports in the press that Arsenal have made an approach but have been told that Rooney has his heart set on Chelsea, even if it isn’t true it is part of the overall PR game and someone has been fed such information for a purpose.

Was started as a wedge between Rooney and Manchester United could potentially be a chasm by now and although Rooney was never going to submit an official transfer request ahead of Ferdinand’s testimonial out of respect he may do so shortly. He’s been quiet up until now and we’ve only got Manchester United and Chelsea’s version of the story, but he must now that he has to act in order to engineer a move.

I think everyone is hoping the situation will have a resolution soon as it’s been discussed to death, Moyes won’t even face the media ahead of Sunday’s Community Shield game against Wigan, but if he doesn’t move it will drag on and on which Mourinho may regard as a victory of sorts. Keeping an unhappy player around could have detrimental effects on the squad’s morale and Moyes has enough pressures to worry about as it is.

Source: ESPN