Wayne Rooney confirmed his desire to leave Old Trafford to former manager Sir Alex Ferguson who then passed the buck to new manager David Moyes. While the former Everton manager has made it clear that the prolific forward is not for sale, his apparent comments regarding Rooney being second fiddle to van Persie has left the England international confused and angry.

While the striker has stopped short of submitting a transfer request, his stance on leaving United for a new challenge reportedly hasn’t changed. His head will no doubt be swayed with the possibility of working with the ‘Special One’ at Stamford Bridge, who has claimed that Rooney is his only transfer target for the summer.

The Europa League winners have identified Rooney to spearhead their attack next season after going increasingly frustrated with their current crop of strikers. The Blues currently have Fernando Torres, Demba Ba and Romelu Lukaku on their books, but Mourinho is determined to bring in Rooney and make him the focal point of his team.

Chelsea had previously submitted a bid in the region of £25 million in order to test the waters but it was swiftly rebuked. That did not stop the Blues from having a second attempt to prise Rooney away and a United spokesperson has now confirmed that a new bid, reportedly believed to be near the £30 million mark, has been rejected by the Red Devils.

Rooney is growing increasingly frustrated with United’s refusal to sell and speculation regarding a transfer further intensified following his absence from the squad that flew to Sweden for a pre-season friendly on Tuesday.

According to Dailymail, Rooney is ready to hand in a formal transfer request to try to force his way out of Manchester after nine successful seasons in order to join Chelsea.