Could Wayne Rooney still stay at Old Trafford?

At the end of last season, the answer would have been no. It was clear that Rooney was surplus to requirements after 13 years at Old Trafford, and the player himself was unhappy at having to play a bit-part role under Mourinho. That remains the case and would normally point a player towards the exit.


The complication here, however, is that Rooney and his advisers are having trouble finding a suitable club prepared to pay anywhere near his current £250,000-a-week salary. The options in China and the United States are understood to be more limited than first thought, and even if his old club Everton followed up their interest, Rooney would have to take a pay cut of at least £100,000 a week.

His stock has fallen to such an extent that the prospect of seeing out the final year of his contract at United has now become a genuine possibility. It is not what United or Rooney really want, but few people envisaged this situation just five months after he became the club’s all-time record goalscorer.
It’s still hard to imagine Rooney playing for United again, but the players are due to report for pre-season training soon and there is no sign of the impasse coming to an end.