Bryan Robson and Andy Cole become latest Manchester United legends to urge Wayne Rooney to remain at Old Trafford

Chelsea and Arsenal are among those to have been linked with a move for the England striker

The former Manchester United captain Bryan Robson said today that he understood why Wayne Rooney might think the grass is greener at another club but declared that he would find none other like it and will always regret leaving if his current fascination for Chelsea leads him to put in a transfer request.

“You never know [what Rooney wants to do] unless you speak to him and I haven’t done that since the end of last season,” Robson said. “But he is a great footballer and sometimes when you are a great footballer you look at other pastures and think they’re greener than what you’ve got. But he has got everything you could want at a football club. I want to see the best player playing at this football club so hopefully they will resolve any issue they have got.”

Former striker Andy Cole today also said Rooney should take a look around Old Trafford and realise that he would always regret leaving. He declared at an event staged to mark the start of a five-year sponsorship agreement between Aeroflot and United, under which the Russian airline will become the Premier League champions’ official carrier, that anywhere else would be a pale imitation. “It’s a great football club and you never want to leave this football club,” Cole said. “You look at it and say ‘I wish I had never left.’ David Moyes has come out the other day and said that he’s not for sale. I think that’s the end of it.”

Moyes was unable to say on Friday whether Rooney had declared a commitment to stay, insisting only that the club could make him their highest ever goalscorer.

New manager Moyes made his first appearance at a United commercial event, when United group managing director Richard Arnold and Aeroflot CEO Vitaly Saveliev announced the new partnership. Arnold said that United have 18 million followers in Russia and that the Aeroflot deal could help expand awareness of the club there. Rooney was present with the rest of the squad at the Aeroflot launch, grinning on the presentation stage wearing sandals and kit. Nothing positive can be read into his presence. It would have been a shock if he had been the only absentee from those players training.

Moyes said that he did not need the sophistication of the commercial launch to show him the size of club he has arrived at. “I was made very aware by the previous manager that the club has many sponsor and I’m delighted we’ve got another sponsor onboard. Asked whether United were upgrading their squad in the way that Aeroflot had upgraded their “creaking fleat” Moyes said there was no new news. “I couldn’t tell you anything to day but I like your question,” he said