Manchester United To Offer Wayne Rooney A New Deal To Stay At Old Trafford
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| Wayne Rooney, pictured with wife Coleen and eldest son Kai, is believed to be settled in the north-west. |
Wayne Rooney will tell Moyes that he wants a fresh start at Manchester United when he holds his first serious discussions with the new manager this week.
Moyes
left for his summer break intending to keep the striker at Old Trafford
so there is hope on both sides that Rooney's future can be settled and
talks can then move on to a fresh deal. Only two years remain on
Rooney's current £300,000-a-week contract and if fresh terms can be
agreed they will be on a more incentivised basis, in line with a
widespread move in the domestic game.
Rooney's desire is to remain
at United because he recognises a transfer at this point of his career
to any other English club represents a step down. He has no wish to
uproot his young family, following last month's birth of his second son,
Klay, and with his wife, Coleen, settled in the north-west, a move
abroad is not his preferred option.
Rooney and Moyes have not yet
been able to meet because the forward's former manager at Everton does
not officially succeed Sir Alex Ferguon until 1 July and both have been
on holiday. They return this week and Rooney will begin talks with
his priority to indicate to Moyes that despite difficulties under
Ferguson last season, he wishes to remain at United.
With incentives, Rooney's current deal makes him the Premier League's
highest paid footballer with earnings of about £300,000 a week. Of this
the basic salary is close to the £250,000 mark. But following the trend
of other Premier League clubs, United will not wish to offer such a
high base-level again to the player who agitated for a move to rivals
Manchester City in October 2010, only to be persuaded by Ferguson to
stay.
As with Yaya Touré's recently signed contract at Manchester
City, any new deal will be more heavily incentivised, raising the
prospect that Rooney could again earn close to his current level of pay.
Although
United maintain Rooney is not for sale, if negotiations between the two
sides did break down the best course for both player and club might be
for him to leave. The difficulty, though, lies in the limited number of
suitors who could match United's £35m valuation – though they may have
to accept closer to £25m – and Rooney's wage demands.
Chelsea are
thought to retain an interest in him and their head coach, José
Mourinho, recently said: "Rooney is at a fantastic age. He has maturity,
big experience and he's still young. It's up to him what he wants, what
makes him happy." Arsenal have also indicated that they could now
afford a player of Rooney's status, with Ivan Gazidis, the chief
executive, making the claim at the start of the month. Last season
representatives of Paris Saint-Germain – a club which, like City, is
backed by oil-rich owners – also revealed their admiration for him.
Rooney's
future is in the balance after an uneven season for United in which
Ferguson repeatedly played him out of position and dropped him for the
campaign's biggest match, the Champions League last-16 second leg
against Real Madrid at Old Trafford in March. Last month Rooney
met Ferguson to discuss his prospects at United, and the forward
requested to leave in the summer if he could not be guaranteed a regular
starting place. Yet the meeting occurred before Ferguson announced his
retirement, and the dynamic has changed markedly following Moyes's
arrival.
Rooney played under Moyes when he made his professional
debut at Everton in 2002 and despite relations breaking down after the
Scot sued the forward for comments written in his autobiography there
are no unresolved issues between them.
Three years ago Rooney
telephoned Moyes to apologise for his comments, a decision the
50-year-old manager has since publicly praised.
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About the author
Roy Suja
I'm a Red Devil. Manchester United is my pride and Old Trafford is my playground. I worship this pitch where football legends are born and history is carved.
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