London – Jack Wilshere wants Wayne Rooney to join him at the Emirates Stadium and restore Arsenal’s fear factor.
Rooney will discuss his future this week with new Manchester United manager David Moyes, having told Sir Alex Ferguson he wanted to leave Old Trafford at the end of last season.
If he cannot be persuaded to stay at United, Arsene Wenger is among those ready to make a move after being cleared to blow the ceiling on the club’s wage structure.
“If it happens it would be amazing,” said Wilshere, when asked about Rooney on espn.com. “He’s the type of player who can win you trophies and just to see his name on the team sheet brings fear to the opposition. We could do with a little more of that.”
Meanwhile, Arsenal have signed 20-year-old France youth forward Yaya Sanogo, who was a free agent at Auxerre.
On Monday Moyes officially began life as United manager, but is increasingly resigned to losing Rooney.
It has emerged that the two men met before going on holiday earlier this summer.
If that conversation had gone well, it is thought there would have been no need for a summit this week that will also involve Rooney’s agent, Paul Stretford, and new United chief executive Ed Woodward.
The England star remains dissatisfied that he was played out of position, dropped for key games and had his fitness questioned by Ferguson last season.
The 27-year-old is due to have his fitness assessment at Carrington on Wednesday, when the first-team players report back. He is also set to go on the club’s pre-season tour of the Far East and Australia next week.
On a day when Manuel Pellegrini also began his new job at neighbouring Manchester City, Moyes wasted no time in making changes. After arriving at the club’s Carrington training base at 8am, he addressed staff before visiting different departments.
At the same time, United confirmed the appointment of three of Moyes’s old Everton staff – assistant manager Steve Round, first-team coach Jimmy Lumsden and goalkeeper coach Chris Woods. – Daily Mail