Transfer news: Jose Mourinho willing to wait for Wayne Rooney as Chelsea hold back on January signings

Mourinho remains willing to play the long game for United's star England striker

Samuel Stevens
Friday 10 January 2014 06:54 EST
Comments
Manchester United's Wayne Rooney
Manchester United's Wayne Rooney (GETTY IMAGES)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Jose Mourinho will resist the temptation to sign a top-class striker this month as the Portuguese manager remains confident of sealing a deal for Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney in the summer, according to reports.

Chelsea have scored the lowest amount of goals of all the clubs currently occupying the Premier League's top four places and have targeted a new striker as scouts and agents continue to send in dossiers to the Stamford Bridge club on a variety of different options.

The Daily Telegraph, however, report that Mourinho has little interest in any of them and would rather wait six months to launch another attempt to lure Rooney to London.

As United continue to falter under David Moyes - out of the FA Cup, behind in their two-legged Capital One Cup semi-final with Sunderland and seventh in the league - the former Real Madrid manager's confidence of ensnaring Rooney continues to grow.

The situation could, of course, change should the club receive encouragement on any potential deals for Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa, Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuaín or Monaco’s Radamel Falcao, but Mourinho is determined to land the England international.

Rooney’s contract is set to expire in eighteen months and he was subject to a host of offers, eventually reaching £30m, from Chelsea last summer.

Despite appearing to have sold Kevin De Bruyne to Wolfsburg for £18m, Mourinho remains adamant that he won't need to add to his squad this month.

"It is not a priority, it is not an option. We have three (forwards). The market is open, but for us, it is almost closed," he said.

"We are happy with the squad we have. This squad is good enough for my first season. If we can improve the squad to prepare the next season, we will do that. But we know where we are, we know what we need for the future."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in