Manchester United

[G]

Going back the the letter, they seem to have trouble spelling the word 'letter' too.

[Chazza]

Manchester United WILL okay Wayne Rooney's Chelsea transfer as long as they can replace him
21 Aug 2013 22:31 By David Maddock Comments

Jose Mourinho understood to have been told the champions are willing to do business with direct title rivals over the England striker

Chelsea have been offered a glimmer of hope in their bid to sign Wayne Rooney.

Mirror Sport understands Jose Mourinho has been told that Manchester United ARE prepared to do business - but only if they can find a replacement for the *unsettled striker.

The Special One has made clear his intention to make a third approach for Rooney before the transfer window slams shut, with sources close to the club suggesting it would be at a ceiling of around £30million.

Champions United have already made contact with the west Londoners to make clear their position, but without *slamming the door totally shut.

Manager David Moyes is becoming increasingly irritated with the constant chatter linking his centre-forward with the Stamford Bridge club, and increasingly frustrated at having to deal with the issue.

He wants to concentrate on his own search for the new signings he promised to make before the window shuts, and United have made clear his feelings in conversations with the Blues' hierarchy.

The situation is complicated because Rooney wants a new contract if he stays, and United are determined to wait to see if he deserves a new deal - and a pay-rise on his already eye-watering £250,000-a-week salary.

Moyes though, knows he can’t allow one of his biggest stars to leave before he has a marque signing lined up to appease the fans and offer a serious *declaration of intent.

The problem though, is two-fold.

The Scot has failed in a *succession of bids to get new signings in, the latest becoming an embarrassment when Everton called the slightly bizarre £28m double offer for Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini “derisory and an insult”.

Moyes is preparing another, improved bid for the pair, but he also wants an attacking midfielder who can play in the role he planned for Rooney -behind Robin van Persie.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/transfers-manchester-united-prepared-sell-2203692

[Fosterbloke]

A bid for Leon Osman in the offing then

[Alex]

Nah, itll be Jelevic

[PTP]

Suarez

[Muddled]

Whorra weapon ...

David Moyes questions Roberto Martínez stance on Everton pair

• Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini are being held back
• Wayne Rooney set to start Manchester United-Chelsea game

David Moyes has claimed Everton's manager, Roberto Martínez, is holding back the careers of Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines by not allowing them to be sold to Manchester United.

The club had a £28m joint bid for the duo rejected by Everton last week, with Martínez intent that neither player is for sale. Moyes, who left Goodison Park to take over from Sir Alex Ferguson this summer, made it clear that he would not have stood in the players' way had he been in his old job.

However, the Scot conceded that during his own time in charge of Everton, Manchester City attempted to buy Joleon Lescott for an undervalued price, so he has some sympathy for Martínez.

"I definitely do but I also know that if I'd been Everton manager and Sir Alex had come asking for Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini, I'd have found it very difficult to keep them because I always felt the right thing to do was what was right for the players," he said. Everton described their former manager's offer for the pair as "derisory and insulting" but Moyes said: "I signed every player at Everton, so I know a lot about them. They are a great club and they are both excellent players."

He added: "The bid, from Manchester United's point of view, was a private thing and if and when we make a new offer we'd keep that offer private and confidential as well." Moyes would not be drawn on whether he was annoyed that Everton had gone public.

"The transfer window is open and we can make bids and you can say 'Yes or no', it's as simple as that. You are allowed to bid. That's not our choice [to make it public]. That's up to them. You need to ask them that question.

"There's sort of a mixed market at the moment. No one is quite sure where the price is right. It's a sort of strange market. Suddenly someone could give you big money. We've had offers for players at this club, which we feel are quite small. I can see it where other clubs might be thinking it's not enough value for their players as well."

Martínez claimed that United lacked "common sense" but Moyes shrugged this off. "All we can do is do our job here. Roberto is in a new job and I'm sure he'll get to understand how Everton work. I know exactly how Everton work. I think I've signed every player at Everton. I know exactly how they work," he said. Moyes was unaware of the former Everton goalkeeper Neville Southall's claim that the Scot was "despicable" regarding the bid.

Asked if Moyes would have felt the same if £28m had been offered to him as Everton manager, he replied: "That's a different question, which I've tried to answer. Everton are a great club, I respect them greatly and I in no way would want to do it in a way that affects them. Of course, taking a player is going to affect them. I'm doing what I have to do in my job.

"I speak to Bill Kenwright [the chairman] regularly, we speak most weeks. He was great for me and hopefully he would think that I'd done a good job for him as well, and Everton. There's no way there's any disrespect whatsoever. This is just a case where we've made an offer, we didn't make it public to anybody, so we'll try and answer the questions as best we can."

Beyond Fellaini and Baines, Moyes still hopes to recruit another midfielder, at least. Yet he admitted the transfer window could end without him making a major signing.

"There's a possibility but the plan is we can bring in one or two if we can," he said. "There's a need to do it but there's no pressure to do it."

Moyes said that Wayne Rooney has a "good chance of starting" for United against Chelsea on Monday evening, with the manager unconcerned that any third bid from their opponents could affect the unsettled striker. United host Chelsea in Moyes's first home league game since succeeding Ferguson, with the club still insistent that Rooney is not for sale at any price.

Yet following the 2-1 defeat of Aston Villa on Wednesday evening at Stamford Bridge, José Mourinho was clear that Chelsea plan to make a final offer for Rooney, who remains determined to join them. Asked if the Portuguese's words will sway any decision to choose Rooney, Moyes said: "Wayne has got a good chance of playing. Well, he's got a good chance of playing against Chelsea, a good chance of starting."

After missing all of United's pre-season games because of a hamstring injury, then a shoulder problem, Rooney started England's 3-2 friendly win over Scotland last week before coming on for the last half-hour at Swansea City three days' later. Despite his unhappiness, the forward again proved what a force he can be, creating United's final two goals in the 4-1 win. He made space for Robin van Persie's second goal of the match, then later produced the pass that allowed Danny Welbeck to add to his first-half strike.

Moyes is relishing the visit by Chelsea and said: "I came for this sort of level but I came to win trophies and if you are going to win them then you do need to beat teams like Chelsea and Manchester City because that's the way our league is. I'm looking forward to it."

LINK: The Guardian

[Muddled]

After all the stuff Man Utd's PR team have parped in the media (Ronaldo, Thiago, Modric), Moyes has successfully gone with:

27 June - £12m offer for Everton's Leighton Baines is rejected

14 July - Rumoured United target Thiago Alcantara completes his move from Barcelona to Bayern Munich

15 July - £25m bid for Cesc Fabregas is rejected by Barcelona

22 July - A second offer, worth £30m, for Fabregas is rejected.

8 August - Fabregas pledges his future to Barcelona

19 August - £28m move for Everton's Baines and Marouane Fellaini is rejected

Go Moyes ... you ****ing whopper.

[Fosterbloke]

His remarks about the careers of Fellaini and Baines are bang out of order.

I hope they tell him to **** off.

[G]

I think United made a move for Baines last summer and funnily enough Moyes didn't sell him.

I may be imagining this.

[Boogs]

Southall and Moyes add to ongoing saga

On the back of verbal jousting earlier in the week, which mostly consisted of Everton responding to the £28 million bid for Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini, this ongoing saga has revved up in the past 24 hours.

• O'Farrell:Barry could certainly do a job

Never one to shy away from an opinion, club legend Neville Southall offered his thoughts while the man at the centre of the episode, David Moyes, further antagonised his former supporters via a series of bewildering statements on Friday.

Southall regularly speaks his mind, a fact noted in his recent appearance at the Blue Union public meeting, and quickly cut to the chase in his latest Paddy Power column. "The joint bid stinks. The way David Moyes has gone about it stinks".

Southall, quite rightly, addresses the 'disrespect' Moyes is showing his former employers. "There's a real danger he will lose all his credibility with the Everton fans … When he comes back to Goodison he is going to get slaughtered".

Revered by supporters, Southall is the most decorated player in Everton history. When he speaks people listen - and the club should do likewise, especially on the subject of Baines. At this late stage, the sale of key players is a recipe for disaster.

As Southall succinctly puts it, "If Baines goes, our chairman will be lynched. It's the equivalent of telling the Everton fans 'stuff you, we're not interested in what you think, we want the money'."

In terms of the former manager, having spectacularly reneged on his now infamous 'Everton don't sell cheap' line, Moyes has again incensed his one-time faithful by suggesting the desire to retain these prized assets is holding the players back.

After admitting sympathy for Martinez, Moyes said, "If I'd been Everton manager, I'd have found it very difficult to keep them [Baines and Fellaini] because I always felt the right thing to do was what was right for the players".

This, from the man who forced Joleon Lescott to train on his own when he announced his wish to join Manchester City, smacks as the emptiest of statements. Closer to home, few could argue Moyes' determination to hold onto Wayne Rooney is 'right for the player'.

Adding other comments coated in an unfamiliar sense of self-importance, the short trip along the M62 has seemingly created a changed man. Acting in a fashion that would have angered him during his Everton tenure, the former Blues boss is eroding his Goodison standing with each passing day.

Not content with trampling over his 'selling cheaply' rhetoric, Moyes has turned another mantra into a fallacy. Although the bid is public knowledge, the Old Trafford boss has always resisted discussing players tied to other clubs.

Given the unabashed views on Baines and Fellaini mentioned above, Moyes has seemingly disregarded many of the admirable principles that helped turn Everton from relegation fodder to European pretenders.

Laughably, Moyes claims disrespect not intended and bids not designed to affect Everton. Ah, the potential unsettling of players, scandalous bids and lack of time to sign replacements is meant in good taste. Phew, what a relief, I was worried for a second there.

Unaware of the views of Southall, which is probably a good thing, Moyes may have done irreparable damage to his reputation with this brazen transfer policy, as United are sure to return accompanied by an improved offer.

Preparing for West Brom and beyond, Everton need to marry the hard faced stance of Southall to their current resolve. Doing so keeps the vultures at bay, restores supporters' faith in the club, and allows Evertonians to begin September with a spring in their step.

link

[chadrtc]

So if Barcelona come in with an 8 million offer for Van Persie, Moyes will sell so that Robin can further his career... That's very kind of him.

[Bender]

so chelsea can't sign rooney but man should be allowed to sign fellaini and baines...what a prick moyes is

[Vermilion]

He may as well just come out and say the two players in question are bigger than his old club!

How about what's best for the Bitters!? David!

Another ****!

[Norbs]

I'd love Chelsea to roll over them Monday, it'd be a great start to the pressure building after Swansea were so weak

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

so chelsea can't sign rooney but man should be allowed to sign fellaini and baines...what a prick moyes is

Let Rooney further his career clearly going to be better off under a top class proven manager like Mourinho than under someone who's trophy haul is a grand total of **** all.