LONDON, England: Manchester United manager David Moyes lost his patience after being questioned about unsettled striker Wayne Rooney following his side’s victory over Wigan Athletic in the Community Shield yesterday.
Rooney is reportedly unhappy at Old Trafford and has been the subject of two unsuccessful bids from Chelsea during the close season.
He was left out of the squad due to a shoulder injury at Wembley, where Robin van Persie’s brace gave United a 2-0 win, but Moyes said media reports about his training programme have been inaccurate.
“Wayne has trained, and some of you might not like hearing this, but I didn’t fall out with Wayne,” Moyes told reporters during a terse post-game press conference.
“Some of you wrote untruths. Wayne trained with the reserves because it was his asking. He couldn’t have (physical) contact, he had a shoulder injury.
“In case you don’t know, we used him as a floating player, which means he doesn’t play for either team, he plays between either team.
“He played as a floating player so he didn’t get injured. So any of you who wrote anything else are misleading your readers.”
Rejecting the suggestion that he had grown tired of discussing the Rooney saga, Moyes added: “I’m quite enjoying talking about it because I’m hearing so many of you (journalists) getting it wrong.
“And I know most of you, and I think to myself, ‘I think you’re a bit cleverer than that, you boys.’ But some of you aren’t acting that way at the moment.”
When asked to confirm that Rooney was still not for sale, Moyes replied, “Correct.”
And when he was questioned about the wisdom of holding onto an unhappy player, he snapped: “Why are you asking me again?”
