Thumbs up: Wanye Rooney arrived at Manchester United's training session on Friday morning
Wayne Rooney is set to return on the bench for Manchester United after travelling with the squad for David Moyes' first Barclays Premier League game in charge of the club at Swansea.
The champions flew to South Wales ahead of Saturday's opening match of the season and Rooney joined the likes of Robin van Persie and Rio Ferdinand on the plane.
The 27-year-old has not featured during United's pre-season matches amid his battle to leave for title rivals Chelsea.
The striker has made no secret of his desire to leave Old Trafford and join Jose Mourinho's side in west London.
But he looks increasingly likely to stay at United, with new boss Moyes refusing to sell up.
In a press conference on Friday, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho reiterated his desire to bring Rooney to Stamford Bridge.
'We all say no, but we lie. Until the last day when the market is open, we all are waiting for something to happen,' he said, before hinting that Samuel Eto'o remains his second choice behind Rooney.
'Even when we say we're very happy with our squad, we lie, because we want always to make it better.
Behind the wheel: Rooney's future continues to be the subject of discussion as Chelsea remain interested
'We will see what happens, not just
with us, with Man United, with everybody else, and see if we can improve
our squad, a squad that I like.
'I'm
not lying when I say I like (the squad), and I'm not lying when I say
I'm enjoying very much to work with these young people, some of them
first steps in the Premier League.
'I'm
happy a player who worked with me before says he wants to join me
again, especially one like Samuel, but we are trying to get one player
and we will see what happens.'
Rooney
impressed during England's 3-2 victory over Scotland on Wednesday and
is now appears ready to pull on the red United shirt once again.
He returned to training with the United
first team on Friday and was included in Moyes' provisional squad, but
Rafael and Javier Hernandez (both hamstring) and wing duo Nani and
Ashley Young are all expected to be sidelined.
In action...finally: Wayne Rooney played his first match of pre-season in England's win over Scotland
On the mic: United boss David Moyes is insistent that Rooney is not for sale
Wilfried Zaha stands by
for his first top slight start, while Michael Carrick should recover
from the eye infection which kept him out of England's friendly.
Rooney
has been out of United's pre-season action with a shoulder injury, and
after watching him play for his country Moyes reiterated the Premier
Leaue champions' stance on the future of their striker.
'There are no more developments and we don't want any because we've told everybody he's not for sale,' said Moyes.
'I'll
need to see how he is when I get back. I'll try and assess him. I
watched the game last night and I thought for the 65 minutes he played
he did well, he ran around and got himself some fitness.'
No comments:
Post a Comment