Mourinho says Chelsea won’t give up on signing England forward
Jose Mourinho refuses to give up on signing his number one target Wayne Rooney and will go to ‘the last day’ despite Manchester United digging their heels in over the player’s future.
Chelsea have seen two bids rejected for the England forward this summer so far with different media sources reporting differing amounts but the latest was £25 million plus bonuses, according to the BBC whilst Sky Sports reckon it was £30 million.
‘Rooney’ has been a dirty word at press conferences of late but Mourinho elected to speak candidly about the 27-year-old, probably to try agitate him into handing in a transfer request as it’s doubtful the move can happen unless he does so, so we’ll see just how badly he wants to make the switch to Stamford Bridge in the coming weeks.
On the chase for Rooney, Mourinho said:
“We are far away so we are not in England to know every detail but, we are doing things in the correct way.
“We made the bid and Manchester United have reacted, let see what happens. But we can’t do more than we are doing now.
“We are doing things legally, making the official bid directly to the club, no interviews or comments or direct relations with the player, no contact, absolutely nothing.
“We are doing everything in an ethical way, so lets see if things change.”
He added:
“There is no time limit. We have our squad of strikers. We have identified the player as one we would look to have with us.
“We have done it in an ethical way and we are going to do that until the last day.
“And we will see how it comes.”
If it’s true that Rooney really is desperate to leave and it seems that all is not well between him and the club, and this was evident from the end of last season when Sir Alex Ferguson claimed publicly that the player wanted to leave. Since then the forward has been left ‘angry and confused’ after comments from David Moyes which suggested that he needs Rooney in case his preferred forward option of Robin van Persie is injured, but in fairness to the Scot he said the Englishman was a vital member of the squad moments before.
There’s also been rumours of his team-mates losing patience with him, namely Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs and Patrice Evra, and he’s set to miss out of Ferdinand’s testimonial. He will also be training with the kids for a second day in-a-row and although Manchester United’s PR machine claim that he requested to do so, it doesn’t really add up and it’s a little too convenient that a player under so much speculation is not only suffering from some sort of affliction keeping him from playing, but is away from the senior side as well.
At the moment it has the makings of a saga and the distraction isn’t really what Manchester United need at the moment as Chelsea twist the knife, but it’s a headache for Moyes in particular who already has to deal with the pressures of managing one of the biggest clubs in the world and is yet to make a meaningful signing so far this summer, which could become a fans’ demand if they lose one of their stars like Rooney.
For Mourinho it’s a game and one he doesn’t mind playing whatever the outcome as he’s getting under the skin of those at Old Trafford regardless.
Source: Telegraph