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Wayne Rooney

BARCELONA are considering sending Thiago Alcantara, David Villa and a small sum of cash to Old Trafford to help lure Wayne Rooney to Spain.
The Catalan giants are keen to strengthen their forward line despite already adding Neymar to the ranks this month. Rooney, who watched from the Royal Box on Sunday as Andy Murray won the Wimbledon men’s title, faces an uncertain future at Manchester United having submitted a transfer request at the end of last season.

Arsenal and Chelsea remain confident they can lure the England man to London, though find United extremely reluctant to sell.
Rooney and David Moyes have spoken about his future: the pair met at Rooney’s home even before the players came back for training last week, with the Scot defiant in his press conference last week.

The new United boss is keen to make a bold statement in the transfer window having taken over from Sir Alex Ferguson officially earlier this month.
And that has led the Spanish newspaper Sport to claim Rooney may be used as a bargaining tool to lure La Liga’s finest.

A report in the paper says Thiago’s departure for around £17 million is almost certain, though sticking points continue to hold up developments, while Villa, too, who is rated at around £8.5m by his club, will quit the Nou Camp with a year remaining his deal.

The sums then, with £4m in cash added on top, values Rooney at over £30m, significantly higher than any bid so far received.
Defender, and former United man Gerard Pique was full of praise for his one-time team-mate last week when he insisted that 26-year-old would become one of the world’s best if he switched countries.

He said: “I know he has what’s needed to be one of the three best players in the world. He’d fit well with Barcelona,” Pique told Sport.
“He can adapt to many positions. He’s best as the centre forward, but we have seen him on the left or right side.”

Meanwhile, One of the busiest football agents in world football, Mino Raiola, expects to have a rather quiet summer after declaring three of his most high-profile clients will not be going anywhere.

Raiola’s client book includes Mario Balotelli, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba, but, despite almost perennial interest in the trio, he claims they will not be budging from respective clubs AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.

The door will not remain closed forever, however, with Raiola particularly concerned about Balotelli’s future in Serie A.
“Milan are building a big project around Mario and they regard him as the reference point of their team, and he is perfectly happy there,” he told the Corriere dello Sport.

“He’s not moving for the time being, but Serie A is no longer a league for top players.
“The day will come when it will be impossible to keep Balotelli there.”

Raiola last week controversially suggested that AC Milan and Inter Milan should merge to form a stronger and more competitive club on the European landscape.

Serie A continues to drop down Uefa’s five-year coefficient rankings and lost its fourth berth in the Champions League last season.-Soccernet.