Boy wonder to stay at Goodison unless United make £30m offer

Everton will retain Wayne Rooney's services next season rather than sell him to Manchester United unless the Old Trafford club can come up with a hefty fee.

Everton will retain Wayne Rooney's services next season rather than sell him to Manchester United unless the Old Trafford club can come up with a hefty fee.

The Rooney crisis is coming to a head - but one of the most unlikely options is becoming a possibility as the Everton board do their sums. It is now making economic sense to the club's chairman Bill Kenwright, backed by manager David Moyes, to reject any offer less than their latest figure of £30m-plus.

Selling for the £20m or less which United plan to bid would not pay enough of their debts, and make relegation - and the loss of at least £20m in Premiership pay-outs - a possibility.

Kenwright would be vulnerable to a boardroom coup if he were to sell out cheaply, but he now realises he will not get the £50m he talked about during Euro 2004. Weeks have gone by since then, and the only offer on the horizon is set to come from United as Chelsea, Real Madrid and Internazionale hold back.

Old Trafford insiders say a £20m offer is imminent, but as the only apparent bidders they will not go up much beyond £25m - and that will not be enough to convince Everton to part with their prize asset.

"We are looking for an answer from Wayne and his advisers to see if he wants to stay," Moyes said. "We hope to get that shortly. There are reasons why there has been no answer, but we are working on it."

Everton are making a £5m move for PSV Eindhoven's Dutch midfielder Mark van Bommel. However, the question remains as to whether they can afford him. Everton have no extra overdraft facility and only have the potential sale of Tobias Linderoth to FC Copenhagen on the cards. He would fetch just £1m. Everton will offer Thomas Gravesen a new deal to stay. The Danish Euro 2004 player has served notice to leave next summer when his contract runs out.

Everton completed the signing of midfielder Tim Cahill from Millwall for a fee believed to be £2m. The 24-year-old signed a four-year deal. Fulham completed the signing of Everton's Canadian international striker Tomasz Radzinski for an undisclosed fee.