WAYNE ROONEY is understood to have informed David Moyes, the Everton manager, that he sees his long-term future as lying away from Goodison Park, a development that follows hard on Newcastle United’s £20 million bid for the England forward. Rooney and Moyes met for discussions on Monday, before Freddy Shepherd, the Newcastle chairman, tabled Newcastle’s offer, when Rooney admitted for the first time that a move away from Merseyside appeals.
Everton have put a new five-year contract worth £50,000 a week in front of the 18-year-old, who has less than two seasons of his present deal to run, but uncertainty about the club’s ownership, as well as concerns about their prospects in the Barclays Premiership, appear to have turned Rooney against the team he supported as a boy. The transfer window closes on Monday, but Newcastle are lurking.
Shepherd will not become involved in any auction and sources close to the Newcastle chairman said that “not a penny more” will be added to their valuation of Rooney. Their bid — “genuine”, according to Sir Bobby Robson, the manager — was purely a cash offer, yet there were suggestions that Newcastle may offer a player, as well as making another £2 million avail able. Kieron Dyer, anyone?
Moyes would be aghast at the prospect of losing Rooney for less than £25 million, feasibly to the extent of considering his position. Sir Alex Ferguson also has a longstanding interest in a player who electrified the European Championship finals, but the Manchester United manager has said that he is “unlikely” to sign another forward imminently.
Newcastle are armed with the first instalment of the £13.4 million fee banked from Real Madrid for Jonathan Woodgate and apparently have sensed an opportunity to seize their moment, yet their interest is difficult to reconcile with their immediate needs. In Alan Shearer, Craig Bellamy, Patrick Kluivert and Shola Ameobi, they already possess four high-quality strikers and are desperately short of cover in defence. Robson insisted yesterday that Newcastle’s move for Rooney would come in tandem with buying an established centre half.
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On Tyneside, there are more pressing issues, such as the one point taken from their first two league games and Norwich City’s visit tonight. It is the fifth anniversary of Ruud Gullit’s decision to drop Shearer for a contentious defeat by Sunderland. It cost him his job. Times change, but the intrigue does not.