Eurosport - Sun, 22 Nov 11:21:00 2009
Manchester United are set to make Wayne Rooney the highest-paid player in the Premier League by offering him a staggering £170,000-a-week.
The deal, which has already been discussed behind the scenes, will include £45,000-a-week in image rights, with United wanting the striker as the club's poster boy for the next 10 years.
Rooney has attracted interest from abroad, and with Barcelona having put the England ace top of their summer transfer wish list, United are keen to ward off any unwanted attention with the bumper offer.
But any deal will have to wait until January, when Rooney's agent Paul Stretford has his ban lifted and is cleared to recommence business. (News Of The World)
Meanwhile, Nemanja Vidic could be on his way out of the club next summer, with Alex Ferguson reportedly unhappy with the Serb's current form and increasing irritability on the training ground.
Palermo centre-back Simon Kjaer is being lined up as a replacement for Vidic, who is not the only one facing the axe - Ben Foster, Nani and Michael Carrick will also have to convince Ferguson of their worth, or face being offloaded. (News Of The World)
Foster is already attracting interest from Sunderland, who have lost Craig Gordon for three months and need a quick-fix solution. Ferguson has already said he will not let him go out on loan, but Black Cats manager Steve Bruce is hoping for his old boss will do him a favour. (Sunday Express)
With Foster clearly not the man to take United into the future, Fergie has been looking elsewhere for a long-term successor to Edwin van der Sar. But his search has hit a snag after CSKA Moscow slapped a whopping £25m price tag on highly-rated goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev. (News Of The World)
Elsewhere, Liverpool are lining up a January swoop for Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who is considered surplus to requirements at the Bernabeu. The Reds may face competition for the Dutchman's signature from Manchester City and Tottenham. (Sunday Mirror)
Aston Villa have got their eyes on Manchester City defender Micah Richards, who has lost his place in the starting XI at Eastlands and is keen to give his World Cup chances a boost with some regular football. (Sunday Express)
Stoke City boss Tony Pulis wants to offload 10 players in a huge January clear-out at the Britannia Stadium. The list is headed by Dave Kitson and includes the likes of Andy Griffin, Amdy Faye, Leon Cort, Michael Tonge and Carl Dickinson. (News Of The World)
Down to the Championship, where Alan Shearer has emerged as the front-runner to take over at Sheffield United should underfire Kevin Blackwell lose his job.
Blades fans have turned on Blackwell after a dramatic slump in form and he is thought to be on the brink of the sack, with Shearer currently the fans' favourite to get the club's season back on course. (News Of The World)
In other news, Tottenham outcast Alan Hutton is on Everton's radar, Birmingham will have to pay £10m if they want to land Hoffenheim's Bosnia striker Vedad Ibisevic and Laurent Blanc could replace Alex McLeish in the Birmingham hotseat should owner Carson Yeung lose faith in his current boss. (News Of The World)
England's 2018 World Cup bid has targeted Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger for a lead ambassador's role in a bid to inject some new impetus into the campaign. (The Mail On Sunday)
To the Hand of Gaul saga now, and Gary Neville has said it is wrong to brand France striker Thierry Henry a cheat for his handling of the ball in his side's controversial World Cup qualifying play-off victory over Ireland.
Neville said: "Everyone who has played football will know that when the ball comes up at your side, your arm can come out instinctively. We have all done things in football matches in the heat of the moment that we have regretted later. The referee has to spot these things." (Malta's Sunday Times)
And Henry also has support from his fellow Frenchman Patrice Evra, who does not believe he should be pilloried and instead thinks there should be a statue erected in honour of him. (The Sunday Times)
And finally, the beachball that so famously disrupted Liverpool's game against Sunderland is to be exhibited in the national football museum in Preston. (Sunday Express)
Comment 82 - 101 of 101
!'m not a manchester united fan far from that .Not even one player has a bit of disciplin,mr ferguson the same , the refereee is always wrong, they appeal against every whistle whatever it is , they are bad looser as it shows the red cards they get if they are behind in the score and that Vidic guy plays socccer like a dockworker get rid of him makes the team kaput by the way how do you get sir in front of your name and rooney ?
i would give him every sunday a bag of fish and ships after the game bah bah bah
rooney should be paid whatever saf thinks he's worth. compared to him, all of yer undoubtedly play crappy footballs (or none at all) with an ugly paycheck every month. yes, all the complaints are understandable..
Poster boy??? hahahahahahahaha
i'm a UNITED fan, so i dun care abt other teams..
as for MANU, ROONEY's contract should be extended but not that much salary is needed or another 10 yrs ???? take a look at OWEN for example. no offence but he was very good last 10 yrs ago, but since he left frm liverpool, he was not that good at all.. who knows?? ROONEY could follow his steps. he might become like OWEN or anelka..
for FOSTER, i thought he was leaving aldy since he spent lots of time on loans.. but i had no idea when VAN DER SAR was injured he became No.1?? for nani, and carrick, they r not that bad and quite good. instead i would love to see VILLA and SILVA at UNITED.. then even REAL won't b their rivals anymore.. for VIDIC, he won't be sold.. FERGIE even waited BROWN patiently, why couldn't he wait for VIDIC..?? when BROWN subbed in for RIO when he was banned, he was far worse than VIDIC rite now...
Man U Forever(comment 104),how could you say like that??you should give applauds and credit to the foreign because they can speak english!!it's better than nothing..don't be too arrogant only because you are english man.. and if you were giving the chance,could you talk their language better than them??one more thing,although I'm manutd fan,I have to agree with him and Tim..undoubtedly, rooney is a good striker but not yet a world class striker like torres,raul,nistlerooy, and ibrahimovic..he need time to prove it..
Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard and Terry are the best English player currently and they would start in any team, so being highly paid is well justified in the contect of today's football wages.
1.ars
2.tottenham
3.liv
4.aston villa.
Hahaha. This is the top 4 for this year. Go gunner...
By the way i dont think rooney is world class striker to b paid this much
Cmon Beachball
But Chelsea beat Man U...and Chelsea is leading now....Chelsea Rules!!!!!
Dynamic comment 96 whoever you are, we can only presume because you cant speak the queens English you are talking from foreign lands and dont have a jar of glue what what you are talking about, I am a season ticket holder at the theatre of dreams and can tell you having seen the best that Wayne Rooney would grace any side in the world and that they would welcolme him with open arms, Wayne Rooney is one of the best players in the world in his position and if you say different then you are obviously a sad cockney or scouser alike, grow up plank. now we know you are a sad Chelsea fan are you tring to tell us Rooney wouldnt get in your side yak yak yak as Sid would say tou sad t w a t.
man utd laughing stock
170 grand a week laughable thats what we are becoming that wouldnt even cover his crater face poster boy lol yes for everyone to chuck darts at
100 p r i c k
@comment 99.......how many people speaking the queens language have nobel prizes in English or even in other subject areas? ...idiot..address issues instead of this loose talk.
Dynamic comment 96 whoever you are, we can only presume because you cant speak the queens English you are talking from foreign lands and dont have a jar of glue what what you are talking about, I am a season ticket holder at the theatre of dreams and can tell you having seen the best that Wayne Rooney would grace any side in the world and that they would welcolme him with open arms, Wayne Rooney is one of the best players in the world in his position and if you say different then you are obviously a sad cockney or scouser alike, grow up plank.
For Rooney read Ronaldo 2 years ago when he signed a new contract, in 2 years time who will he be playing for???
Who cares??????.........
Chelsea Rules..............!!!!!
Rooney for 170K a week is a stupid plan. What does he really worth? Im sure if he goes to Arsenal...oops...lets say Chelsea, he will forever occupy bench. Fergie probably will have a share in it behind close door.
If i were a Man U fan i would never pay to watch their games should Rooney get paid that ridiculous amount when he doesnt deserve it.
English national football has been wrecked by there being so many no English players in the Premier league!
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