Manchester United plan mega deal to retain Wayne Rooney

Manchester: Manchester United have finally begun moves to entice Wayne Rooney to the negotiating table for talks on a new contract.

The player has had indications that, after having to wait to discover his club’s intentions, Manchester United now want to start dialogue over an extension to his current deal.

There are just 18 months remaining on the contract Rooney signed with the champions in 2010 and Chelsea are thought to be ready to make another attempt to sign the striker next month. Manchester United now appear to have acted. Nothing formal has yet been put in the diary in terms of a meeting between Ed Woodward, Manchester United’s chief executive, and Rooney and his advisers but the idea of discussions has at last been mooted.

Rooney is thought to be pleased at the break in the impasse and ready to hear what his club have to say but the terms of keeping the player may prove expensive to the champions.

The England forward is likely to want at least parity with Robin van Persie, his club’s top-paid star, who earns about £250,000 (Dh1,495,533) a week, and the security, at 28, of a four-year contract.

The outlay for such a deal would exceed £50 million but the quality of Rooney’s performances and the leadership role he has adopted during a difficult season to date are to his credit. In contrast to his problems with Sir Alex Ferguson, Rooney is hugely valued by David Moyes, Ferguson’s successor, and seen as a key component of the new team Moyes hopes to build.

Though Rooney wanted to explore ways of leaving Old Trafford in the summer, after a protracted fall-out with Ferguson, he is understood to be much happier with life now.

He may, however, have to take into consideration Manchester United’s slip in performance levels before committing his future. The club are ninth in the Premier League and Rooney, like any other leading player, sees Champions League football as an essential part of his career.

At Chelsea, Jose Mourinho is desperate to sign a new goal-scorer. Mourinho’s strikers, Demba Ba, Fernando Torres and Samuel Eto’o, have scored just five league goals between them this season. Rooney, of whom Mourinho remains a huge fan, has scored eight himself in 2013-14 on the eve of Aston Villa game.