Are Manchester United simply buttering Everton up for Romelu Lukaku?
Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney
Everton are reported by The Independent to be in pole position to sign Wayne Rooney this summer, with the striker keen to return to his former club.
The report claims Manchester United will consider waiving a transfer fee, to allow Rooney to clinch his desired move.
With tens of millions of pounds potentially available from Chinese clubs, it would be a remarkable piece of goodwill from Manchester United to let Everton sign the forward for free.
United would free themselves of Rooney’s extortionate £300,000 per week wages, which could be motivation enough for them to sanction a move, but their could well be another agenda.
They say ‘don’t look a gift horse in the mouth’, but this is exactly what Everton should do here.
The Toffees should be considering Manchester United’s intentions, that they could be attempting to soften them up to sign Romelu Lukaku.
Lukaku’s future is a hot topic, with the forward rejecting a contract extension last week, with his desire to play at the top level in Europe and compete for trophies well known.
Everton would perhaps baulk at the prospect of selling their top scorer to a Premier League competitor who they are attempting to catch up with.
Manchester United’s Michael Carrick in action with Everton’s Romelu Lukaku
Yet United’s goodwill could potentially hold some favour, should Lukaku one day make it clear he wants to move to Old Trafford.
Having watched how Jose Mourinho has repaired relations with Juan Mata, a reunion from their Chelsea days is feasible, perhaps not this summer, but in a year’s time once United have got perhaps one more year out of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and are in more pressing need of a replacement.
With agent Mino Raiola pulling the strings, who represents Lukaku along with United stars Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, nothing can be ruled out.
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