Wayne Rooney has quickly become a peripheral figure at Manchester United.
The club captain has barely featured in recent weeks due to injury, but he’s far from first choice under Jose Mourinho anyway.
According to the Mirror, because the England international has slipped so far down the pecking order, there’s still a genuine possibility that he could leave for the Chinese Super League.
Mourinho has insisted that any move will be up to the player himself and won’t happen until the summer – but the Far East transfer market hasn’t actually closed yet.
The Chinese market is open until Feb 28, and it’s thought that Rooney has been offered a ridiculous £140million over the course of three years.
That’s more than he’s earned in his entire United career, so you could hardly blame him if he is giving it some serious thought.
The 31-year-old has fallen behind Henrikh Mkhitaryan as a number 10, while even Paul Pogba has sometimes been used higher up the pitch instead of Rooney.
The potential signing of Antoine Griezmann this summer could be the final nail in the coffin, but it seems the legendary skipper could cut his losses before he’s forced out.
All the indications have been that this season would be the record goalscorer’s swansong. He’s already had a testimonial against his old side Everton, and he surpassed Sir Bobby Charlton’s record with a superb free-kick against Stoke City.
Rooney is likely to start Sunday’s EFL Cup final on the bench. Winning silverware at Wembley would be the ultimate way to go out, but it remains to be seen whether he’ll actually play any part.
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