The football world is buzzing this morning with reports that Wayne Rooney is refusing to sign a new contract at Old Trafford.
The England striker is said to have fallen out with manager Alex Ferguson in the wake of embarrassing revelations about the young forward’s private life. The breakdown in the pair’s relationship led to Rooney starting on the bench in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with West Brom.
Despite the club’s insistence that talk of selling him in January are “nonsense”, the club may want to cash in on their troubled star man before his transfer value plummets at the end of the season – he currently has a mere 20 months to run on his deal.
Writes the Guardian‘s Daniel Taylor this morning:
The full details are not yet clear but the underlying fact is that Rooney now feels that his working relationship with Ferguson has suffered potentially irreparable damage in the fall-out from tabloid allegations about the striker’s private life, coinciding with a dramatic loss of form and a growing sense that the most successful manager in the business has taken a hard-line approach with his player.
And Europe’s biggest spenders are said to be preparing bids for the No 10.
Just as they did with Carlos Tevez – who scored twice against Blackpool in a 3-2 win yesterday – ‘noisy neighbours’ Manchester City are ready to eclipse the £80m Real Madrid paid United for Cristiano Ronaldo, according to the Daily Mirror.
City have the spending power to offer Rooney over £200,000 in wages, and they could offer United a fee approaching nine figures that would greatly ease their financial woes.
The Sun claim that Jose Mourinho is prepared to use striker Karim Benzema as a makeweight in a deal that would bring Rooney to the Bernabeu.
And Ferguson, a long-time admirer of Benzema, may be tempted to take the France forward as part of the deal.
Benzema left Lyon for the Spanish capital in 2009, but has largely failed to live up to his £30m fee. Now, with Mesut Ozil and Angel di Maria also providing competition for places, a swap of clubs with Rooney could work out for the best for both players.
Rooney and his wife are ready to move abroad in a bid to re-energise the England striker’s career and escape the spotlight of the British media, the Daily Telegraph reports.
