Throwing the towel in: Wayne Rooney is believed to
be planning his departure from Manchester United
Wayne Rooney has told Manchester United he wants to
leave Old Trafford as soon as possible after a massive fall-out
with manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
The troubled England striker has told his employers he will not
sign a new contract and would prefer them to let him leave when the
transfer window reopens in January.
He has complained that his relationship with Ferguson has
completely disintegrated, and likens it to the split that occurred
between the United manager and David Beckham in 2003.
On Sunday, United were surprisingly swift in denying reports
that it was their intention to sell Rooney, issuing a statement to
that effect.
But Sportsmail understands the initiative is actually being
taken by Rooney, who feels aggrieved with Ferguson for what he sees
as a lack of support over the recent turmoil in his private life.
When news first broke of the scandal involving Rooney and two
prostitutes, Ferguson chose not to play him at Everton, publicly
citing a recurrence of the ankle injury the striker suffered in
Munich last season.
But Rooney considered the decision to be more of a punishment
than an effort to protect him, and was similarly unimpressed with
Ferguson's decision to leave him out of the team for the encounters
with Fulham, Sunderland and Valencia.
It came to a head when Rooney then publicly defied Ferguson by
telling reporters after England's game against Montenegro last week
that he was not even injured.
'I've had no ankle problem,' said Rooney, which contradicted
statements he had made in recent weeks. Ferguson responded by
leaving him on the bench for 70 minutes of Saturday's 2-2 draw with
West Bromwich.
Rooney has 18 months left on his contract and the club may have
to sell or risk losing him for nothing. When he cost close to £30m,
that would be hard for the Glazer family to accept.
United said suggestions they had already decided to sell Rooney
were 'nonsense'.
