Wayne Rooney’s agent in China to discuss potential move for Manchester United and England captain

Moving on? Wayne Rooney has been at Manchester United since 2004
AFP/Getty Images
Richard Parry23 February 2017

Wayne Rooney’s agent Paul Stretford has travelled to China to discuss a potential transfer from Manchester United, according to widespread reports.

Although the transfer window has closed in England and much of Europe it remains open in China until February 28, while manager Jose Mourinho has so far been reluctant to confirm whether Rooney will stay at Old Trafford – even until the end of the current campaign.

The England captain has not played for United since the start of the month and was omitted from the squad that defeated Saint-Etienne on Wednesday to secure their place in the last 16 of the Europa League.

Manchester United face Southampton in the EFL Cup final this weekend, and at this stage it is unclear whether Rooney will be involved.

Working as a pundit for BT Sport last night, Rooney’s former Manchester United team-mate Paul Scholes admitted that he expects the 31-year-old to leave the club.

“I don't know if he should go but I think he'll want to go,” said Scholes.

“Wayne is a player who wants to play football every week, whether it's a big game or a small game - he wants to play. This'll be hurting him at the minute, not being selected for the bigger games.

“He might have played in this game [vs Saint-Etienne] if he was fit – I think he would have. He'll get frustrated and I don't see him hanging about if he's not playing in the big games.”

Wayne Rooney's 14 goals against Arsenal

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Chinese Super League club side Tianjin Quanjian – who failed in their attempts to bring Chelsea’s Diego Costa to China last month – have claimed to have held talks over a move before looking at alternate targets.

“We did make an approach for Rooney, but it was just chit-chat because he simply doesn’t suit our style of play,” manager Fabio Cannavaro told Tianjin TV.

“No further discussion was necessary. The truth is we had more frequent contact with Aubameyang.

"Unfortunately, our bid was rejected by Borussia Dortmund who said he was needed in this season’s Champions League.

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