Jose Mourinho has been speaking about transfer speculation amidst Chelsea’s pre-season tour to Asia, and confessed that he is an admirer of the qualities of Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney.

Chelsea have been preparing big money bids for their prime transfer targets, and while the squad trains in Asia, the chairman and officials will be submitting these bids over the course of time. As the transfer market heats up, clubs are accelerating their moves, and want a full squad to train together so as to help establish team spirit. However, transfers with fee excess of £40-50 million take weeks to complete, assuming the fact that there are multiple clubs bidding for the same player. With this in mind, Mourinho had declared that he was satisfied with the club’s business in the market so far, but speculation over a move for unsettled United star Rooney has been gathering pace ever since the Red Devils squad returned to their own Asian tour, with the striker reportedly sent back due to a hamstring strain.

Rooney has been struggling to find his best form in recent seasons, and that explains the two transfer requests lodged by the striker in the past few terms. The stature and presence of Sir Alex Ferguson in the dressing room would bring the best out of the players, and motivate the same to perform well. However, given the fact that Sir Alex has retired, Rooney has reunited with his former boss at Everton – David Moyes, who was responsible for Rooney’s Barclays Premier League debut more than a decade ago in 2002.

The 27-year old has played against Mourinho’s teams on multiple occasions, and the Portuguese boss is aware of the value Rooney would add to the lineup. With ten years of Premier League experience, Rooney has vast exposure to the English game, and would not have much difficulty settling into the London based club.

According to Metro, Mourinho respected the fact that Rooney is currently contracted to United, and any further comment about a bid would not be correct on his part.

Mourinho said, “It’s a tricky question because I cannot speak about. But you know me and it’s not my kind of character to speak with a bit of hypocrisy and I always say what I think,”

“He [Rooney] is a player I like very much but I can say no more than that. Being fast and direct, I like that, but he’s a Manchester United player.”

So no doubt about it Mourinho can see Rooney in Chelsea Blue _ would Manchester United sell such an iconic player to their on of their biggest rivals? A pretty huge call for a new manager in David Moyes and the United Board as it certainly looks like Chelsea would pull the trigger on this deal if they could as would Arsenal merely down to Rooney’s experience in the EPL and his goal-scoring record.

I can’t see united selling him this season…we will see