LONDON: Wayne Rooney (pictured) was never close to joining Chelsea in the summer because Manchester United would not have sold him, former chief executive David Gill said yesterday.
The close season was dominated by a complicated transfer saga in which Chelsea pushed hard to take Rooney to Stamford Bridge after the player appeared to suggest he wanted to leave, but United would not budge.
And according to Gill, still a United director, there was never any chance of the 27-year-old England forward leaving.
“We are not in the business of strengthening our key competitors in England,” Gill told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme.
“You have to see our response when Gabriel Heinze wanted to join Liverpool (in 2007).
“We went to a Premier League arbitration panel to show that we didn’t commit to him moving within England for a certain sum of money.
“We wanted to keep (Rooney) in any event and not sell him overseas.
“You don’t win football matches with money in the bank.
“You want players on the pitch. Wayne Rooney has been, and will continue to be I am sure, a great player for Manchester United.”
The whole saga was never punctuated by any direct quotes from Rooney and even since the transfer window closed, the former Everton front-man has refused to comment on the issue, saying only that he is concentrating on his football.
Yet he is believed to still be keen on leaving and working with Jose Mourinho, now returned to west London.
Rooney could buy himself out of his current contract at the end of the season, after which he will only have a year left of his estimated £250,000 ($400,400, 296,000 euros) a week deal.
Despite his apparent dissatisfaction at the club, it has not shown in Rooney’s performances as he passed 200 goals for the club with a brace against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League in midweek.
Meanwhile, Manchester United manager David Moyes has revealed that he thought Rooney had “gone soft” when he first arrived at the club.
Although Rooney returned for pre-season training in excellent condition, Moyes was worried he had lost his competitive edge.
“When I came, I thought he had gone a bit soft,” Moyes told United’s in-house television station, MUTV.
“I thought he had to get back to being a bit more aggressive. We are challenging him to be that at the moment because when he is, he is a handful to play against.”
Injuries also disrupted Rooney’s preparations for the new campaign but since returning from a facial injury sustained before the international break, he has scored three goals in two games.
Although Moyes says there was never a chance of Rooney leaving Old Trafford, he felt a need to encourage the 27-year-old England striker to raise his game.
“I didn’t think there was ever a line to draw under between me and Wayne but now he realises the situation,” said the former Everton manager.
“This is a big year for him with the World Cup and he would say, by his standards, last season wasn’t (his) best season. He has set out his own stall to say he is going to improve on that.”
Agencies
