‘Angry and confused’ Rooney set for United exit

Wayne Rooney’s Manchester United career appears to be over.

Rooney is understood to be fuming at comments made by United manager David Moyes at the weekend which suggested he was now regarded as a second-choice striking option behind Robin van Persie.

Rooney has taken that as a personal slight and is “angry and confused” about his treatment.

The offending words were delivered to Sunday newspaper journalists during a briefing with Moyes in Bangkok last week.

“Overall, my thought on Wayne is that if for any reason we had an injury to Robin van Persie we are going to need him and I want as many options as possible,” Moyes said.

It has been widely interpreted as Moyes stating he regards Rooney as an understudy to the prolific Dutchman.

And unsurprisingly, that has gone down very badly.

A source close to the situation has highlighted Rooney’s unhappiness. As far as the 27-year-old is concerned, he is at the peak of his career and has no intention of playing second fiddle to anyone, or being reduced to the ranks of becoming a squad player.

With four Premier League titles and a Champions League winners’ medal to his name, Rooney does not believe he has anything to prove at United.

Yet he feels as though he has been put on trial by Moyes at a time when he should be concentrating his efforts on recovering from the hamstring injury that saw him sent home from United’s pre-season tour within hours of landing in Thailand on Thursday.

“Wayne is confused and angry,” said the source.

United are aware of Rooney’s feelings and Moyes and chief executive Ed Woodward will come under pressure to clarify their own position.

Woodward added fuel to the fire at the weekend by insisting there were no plans to sit down with Rooney and discuss an extension to his £250,000-a-week contract, which still has two years to run.

“No contract renewals are being discussed,” said Woodward. “I am not sitting down with any player on an extension and there is no trigger date in the diary.

“Would we be afraid to run a contract down? Of course not.”

Rooney’s future has been the subject of intense speculation throughout the summer, triggered initially by former boss Alex Ferguson leaving him out of the Champions League knockout clash with Real Madrid in March. Ferguson subsequently claimed Rooney had asked to leave United, something the player vehemently denies.

Chelsea and Arsenal have both been linked with the striker and Blues boss Jose Mourinho yesterday admitted he is a fan: “He is a player I like very much but I can’t say much more. He is fast and direct and I like him. But he is a Manchester United player.”