Jose Mourinho says he has called a halt to Chelsea's pursuit of Wayne Rooney, claiming that Manchester United were adamant the England striker would not be sold to a domestic rival.
Rooney is likely to miss tonight's trip to Stamford Bridge with a continuation of his groin injury and managerDavid Moyes also said yesterday that he was not for sale.
Chelsea tried to prise Rooney away from Old Trafford in the last close season during his rift with United. They made successive and public bids of 20 million and 30 million to force the issue and, while United made it clear that Rooney would not be sold, Chelsea's interest remained undimmed.
Now, with Fernando Torres approaching some sort of form, Mourinho appears to have admitted defeat.
"I'm happy with the squad we have," Mourinho said. "Manchester United made it clear in the summer that they don't swap or sell players to their direct rivals.
"They were clear in the way they approached the Rooney situation. For them, it's pretty clear. They don't swap. They don't sell. Do I see that changing? No."
Of course, given that this was the consummate verbal tactician Mourinho speaking, it might be wise to take the above words with a pinch of salt. In an impish attempt to churn the clanking gears of the rumour mill one more time, he suggested that United might still be persuaded to sell Rooney to a foreign club: "I think maybe this summer they will try to sell to a non-direct rival."
For his part, Moyes said: "I completely disagree. I can only tell you I disagree," when informed of Mourinho's latest remarks on the striker's future.
"Although he will go to Brazil at the end of the season, I wouldn't talk about other managers at other clubs and I wouldn't talk about other players at other clubs. But managers have their own style. I wouldn't do it. Only time will give you the answer about Wayne.
"We were never going to sell Wayne, so my relationship with Jose has been fine. I respect him for the success he's had and the way he's managed his clubs. He's been one of the best modern-day managers and he could go on to be one of the great managers, so I've got no problem with Jose."
United's intention remains to secure Rooney on a new contract and Moyes said: "The club will deal with that. Wayne looks good. He trained on the grass a bit. He looks refreshed and hopefully he won't be too far away from playing."
But the Rooney saga is just one of a number of sub-plots that present themselves as Mourinho's side prepare to host the champions for the first time since his return to English football. Mourinho was reputed to be interested in taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson last year, with one account in a Spanish book even suggesting that Mourinho broke down in tears when Moyes was offered the job.
Mourinho says he's giving up the pursuit for Wayne Rooney. Photo / AP
Mourinho cackled when this version of events was put to him. "I think the person who writes the book shouldn't write books," he said. "He should write books for kids, imagination."
Instead, he repeated his own testimony, that Ferguson had told him he was planning to step down in April, around two weeks before he announced his retirement publicly.
"He said I was one of his best friends in football so he wanted me to know before I read about it," Mourinho said. "He was telling me he was going to announce it on the last day of the season.
"I was afraid because I was sure that someone might leak it and the Boss might think it had come from me, so I was a bit under pressure. In the same way, he knew from me that I was coming back to Chelsea. I was not committed to Chelsea, but I wanted to come and Chelsea had already expressed a desire for me to come back."
And then he said, as if to stress the point: "I am where I want to be. I have the job I want to have. I don't want another job."
To the football, and to the hope that these two teams may serve up slightly better fare than they did at Old Trafford in August, when two new managers refused to countenance defeat and thus sacrificed victory in what remains one of the direst matches of the season.
