United legend Wayne Rooney could move to China before next season

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Wayne Rooney offered highest wages in the history of football. Image Source: twitter

Internet Desk: Manchester United legend and all time top goalscorer Wayne Rooney could be on his way to China before the next season. The English international has been the heartbeat of Old Trafford for years now and if he moves towards China, it would be an end of an era to the historic club of Europe, which has witnessed the famous no.10 to produce match winning contributions for years after years.

United manager Jose Mourinho did not rule out the possibility of a move when he spoke to reporters on Tuesday.

The club received an offer from Shanghai SIPG for Rooney last season but his camp had no interest in negotiating a possible move while he trailed Sir Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring record.

Beijing Guoan were considering a £20million offer for Rooney last month and Shenzhen, who play in the second-tier China League One and are managed by Sven-Goran Eriksson, are also interested to sign the prolific goalscorer.

Rooney has tasted every significant trophy during his 13 years’ United career and his free-kick at Stoke last month saw him surpass Sir Charlton as the club’s greatest goalscorer.

But the England Captain has failed to regain his first-team place since he was dropped against Leicester in September and Mourinho has restricted Rooney to just three league starts since at Swansea, Crystal Palace and West Brom.

During the press conference ahead of United’s Europa League round-of-32 second leg, Mourinho refused to guarantee Rooney would be at United next summer.

“You have to ask him, of course I can’t guarantee. I cannot guarantee that I’m here next week, how can I guarantee that a player is here next season?

“What I can guarantee is that if one day Wayne leaves the club it is not because I want him to leave the club. I would never push a legend of this club to another destiny.”

“You have to ask him if he sees himself staying in the club for the rest of his career or sees himself moving. It is not a question for me because I am happy to have him.”

United Executive Vice-Chairman Ed Woodward confessed last season that the Chinese Super League could be a ‘useful market’ for the club to sell their players.

“So far, this is the biggest window in preparation for the next season, so I do think there’ll be more activity in the summer, but it’s very, very difficult to predict the impact that will have,” Woodward said during the club’s conference call in February last season.

Rooney has scored only five goals this term and has netted once in the league at Old Trafford over the last year.