Manchester United respond to Rooney talk

Jose Mourinho was asked about Wayne Rooney earlier today, and his answer was apparently provokative enough to force David Moyes into a rather exasperated response. Said response is good news for those of you who don't want him to move to Chelsea:

Unless I was speaking Double Dutch last week, we said Wayne Rooney is not for sale. People are entitled to talk about good players. I'm getting asked plenty of questions about Wayne.

Jose has been asked about players as well. It's hard to keep repeating myself but I will - Wayne is a Manchester United player and it will remain that way.

I think Jose said, in his comments, that he doesn't normally talk about other players. But it does happen. I think I've covered all of the things on Wayne.

-Source: Mail.

The hamstring injury that ruled Rooney out of United's Asia tour turns out to not have been very serious at all, which makes the chatter about him possibly wanting out at least understandable. If I were Moyes, I'd be more than happy to ditch his wages, but I suspect that he doesn't want the departure of a major player to be the first thing to happen at Old Trafford under his watch.

Which is fine by me. Rooney would improve the squad, but there's almost no way he could ever justify the cost. I'd guess this little saga continues for a while without ever really getting anywhere -- and if it's unsettling United and Moyes even a little bit, so much the better from Chelsea's perspective.