Sir Alex Ferguson on Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney: 'We are not going to let him go'

Outgoing manager adamant that there is still a future for want-away striker Wayne Rooney after he confirms transfer request

Wayne Rooney celebrates Manchester United's success with Alexander Buttner, and Tom Cleverley (GETTY IMAGES)

Wayne Rooney’s Manchester United career looked close to being over on Sunday night after Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed that the player had made a transfer request and had been left out of the Scot’s final game at Old Trafford because the forward did not feel he could play.

Although Ferguson said the club had turned down the transfer request, it is hard to see how Rooney can survive at Old Trafford having challenged the club’s patience for the second time since his original contract stand-off in 2010. The player joined in the post-match trophy celebrations but was not even on the substitutes’ bench for the match.

Ferguson said: “I don’t think Wayne Rooney was keen to play, simply because he’s asked for a transfer. But we won’t sell him. We have refused it. I think he should go away and think about it again. He wasn’t happy about being brought off in games this season. Wayne Rooney in top form wouldn’t be taken off.”

Asked whether Rooney would stay at the club, Ferguson said: “It’s not my decision now.”

But former team-mate Gary Neville believes there could still be a way back for Rooney under new manager David Moyes.

“He has not been himself over these last couple of months, you can see there is something wrong, he wears his heart on his sleeve,” Neville said.

“However, he has seen what has happened here today, that reception before the game as he was sat up there in that box and looked around him. He’s 27 years of age, there is nowhere to go from here, believe me.

“The new manager coming in knows him from Everton. This is a good kid, not one who will make rash decisions, he is emotional of course but I think he can be brought around and just needs some time away.”

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