Chelsea are preparing a £20 million bid to land striker Wayne Rooney from Manchester United, according to reports from The Telegraph.
The 27-year-old has been tracked by several top clubs but it is understood that the England international would prefer a move to Stamford Bridge as he is most attracted by the prospect of working with Jose Mourinho.
Rooney is unsettled at the Old Trafford club but United have maintained their stance from the beginning that the striker will not be sold in the summer.
The former Everton star has two years left on his £250,000-a-week contract and therefore it presents an interesting situation for David Moyes to consider a sale, from both sporting and financial point-of-view.
The Gunners have also been strongly linked with the player, with Jack Wilshere openly stated that it would be “amazing” to have Rooney in the side.
“He is 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,” said Wilshere as quoted in The Guardian.
Moyes, who officially took charge of the club on Monday, is determined to keep hold of Rooney and is prepared to give him the assurances he wants. The Scot will meet Rooney and his agent, Paul Stretford, face-to-face this week and will try to convince the England star to stay at the club.
Chelsea are in need of a centre-forward in the summer and have earmarked Napoli’s Edinson Cavani as their prime target.
However, the Blues are reluctant to meet Napoli’s asking price of £53 million, which is basically his buy-out clause, while suffered a blow in their chase as Cavani himself hinted his desire to stay at the Naples club, further insisting that all rumours circulating in the market about his future are untrue.
In such a scenario, Chelsea are looking for options elsewhere, with Borussia Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski and AC Milan’s Stephan El Shaarawy are also on their wish-list along with the Manchester United star.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
