Ferguson: Rooney wants to leave MAN.U

Source: huhuonline.com

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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed striker Wayne Rooney wants to leave the club.

Rooney's future has been the subject of intense speculation over the last few days following reports that the England striker was not prepared to sign a new contract. In an interview with

MUTV today, Ferguson said: "David [Gill, chief executive] in the early part of the summer had opened talks with his agent and that was to be continued after the World Cup.

I was in the office on 14 August and David phoned me to say he wasn't signing a contract. I was dumbfounded. Only months before he was saying he was at the greatest club in the world "I asked to have a meeting with the boy. He reiterated what his agent said, that he wanted to go."

 Ferguson denied reports that he and the player had fallen out, and revealed his irritation that Rooney had denied having an ankle injury. "We've not had any argument. You have to understand the mechanics of these situations when someone wants to leave the club. It's an easy one to say you've fallen out with the manager."

 Asked whether or not he was genuinely injured, something Rooney denied following England's game against Montenegro, Ferguson said: "Yes, he was injured. I said that in a TV interview some weeks ago. We sent him for a scan but there was no doubt that although he's able to train he's still carrying traces of that injury.

 "Why he came out and said that you can only guess yourself. It was disappointing he said that. When it came to the Sunderland game, I gave him a complete break hoping he would get his form back. Why he's come out and said that I have no idea."

 Ferguson continued: "The one thing I said to him was 'respect this club', I don't want any nonsense from you. I don't know if he has done that. I have doubts on that, we are reading all these things about falling out with me and all that nonsense. It's disappointing because we have done everything we possibly can to help Wayne Rooney ever since he came to the club.

 "We have always been here as a harbour for him any time he has been in trouble, the advice we have given him, I was even prepared to give him financial advice. But it's not just Wayne Rooney, we have done that for all the players. Wayne has been the beneficiary of that, just as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes has...so there has been no falling out.

 "So there we are, we have got into a situation where we had to clarify this for our fans because what we saw on Saturday was unacceptable. When we got to 2-2 [against West Brom] and they were chanting Wayne Rooney, it's a pressure on the players and didn't do the team any good so we had to clarify the situation and put it right."

 Just hours before today's much-anticipated press conference, the England striker was carried off on a stretcher during United's training session this morning.

 Although Rooney did complete the first part of today's training session - which is open to the media - once the cameras had left he suffered an ankle injury that means he will miss tomorrow's UEFA Champions League encounter with Bursaspor at Old Trafford. The news was revealed at the end of a dramatic five-minute resume of Rooney's status at the club by Ferguson.

 Ferguson admitted he was stunned by Rooney's stance but confirmed the door remained open for the former Everton man. He added: "Of course, there's no offer on the table as they are not prepared to listen to an offer but there's always an offer from Manchester United to negotiate with any player and that's still there.

 "I am disappointed, I can't believe it. When you manage Manchester United there is always something you have to deal with and we have had to deal with these situations before. It's not as easy as it was a few years ago. We are dealing with agents who are living in the pockets of players, it's a different world and we have to deal with it." Culled from FIFA.COM