London – David Moyes’ plans to recruit a new attacking midfielder, and confirmation that Robin van Persie will start the season as Manchester United’s preferred centre forward, have raised fresh questions over Wayne Rooney’s future.
Moyes is still keen to bring Cesc Fabregas to United from Barcelona, or a similarly skilful alternative. With the new United manager understood to be keen to play Japan forward Shinji Kagawa as a ‘No 10’ behind a central striker.
Rooney, 27, will be left wondering where he will fit in next season.
During interviews in Asia, Moyes reiterated his desire to keep Rooney, who left the pre-season tour last week with a hamstring injury. However, United chief executive Ed Woodward stressed the club have no immediate plans to talk to Rooney about a new contract – he has only two years left on his current deal – so it is easy to see why the England international still feels unsettled.
Moyes said: “Overall my thought on Wayne is that if for any reason we get an injury to Robin van Persie we are going to need him.
“Wayne has a major role to play because we need to try and get him as many goals as we possibly can.
“Wayne can play up top, I think he can play dropped in. I want to be able to play the two of them, I want to be able to use Danny Welbeck, Chicharito (Javier Hernandez) as well. I want to give myself as many options as possible.”
Moyes’s preference during his time at Everton was to play one traditional centre forward. At United it would appear that man is likely to be last season’s leading scorer, Van Persie. The United manager is determined to keep Rooney, but the two men have more to talk about when Moyes returns at the end of the month.
Certainly, Woodward’s suggestion on Sunday that the club are not in a position to open contract talks will frustrate the Rooney camp. If Rooney does stay – and the only way he can leave now is if he formally submits a request to leave – then it looks as though his long-term future will not be sorted until next summer.
“There are no contract renewals 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.”
United’s tour began with a 1-0 defeat by the Singha All Stars in Bangkok on Saturday night, but there were some bright spots. Ryan Giggs, 39, played like a man 10 years his junior and then insisted: “I must be crazy but I am enjoying it.”
There was a bright start from young Belgian Adnan Januzaj. The 18-year-old played for an hour and was United’s best player.And there was a pleasing cameo from Wilfried Zaha, the new arrival from Crystal Palace hitting the post.Back home, it is feared that Chris Smalling’s foot injury may require more surgery, though Moyes said on arrival in Sydney on Sunday that the defender had been in “light training”. – Daily Mail