Wayne Rooney, who was just named manager of DC United, reportedly plans to strengthen his ties with Manchester United in order to sign their players this summer.
The former Manchester United striker has returned to DC United to lead the MLS team where he played for two seasons before announcing his exit from Derby County last month. The English manager wants to make some significant additions to make a final push for a playoff spot.
Rooney is mulling a move for former Manchester United teammate Phil Jones, according to The Daily Mail.
The former player wants to help Jones, after years of working together at Manchester United and for England. The English centre-back wasn’t included in United’s current preseason tour.
The 30-year-old has only made five appearances for United’s first squad in the past two seasons due to long-standing injury issues that have kept him out for the majority of games in recent years. He might find fresh life if he moved to work for Rooney, but moving seems logically impossible.
The first issue is Phil Jones’ alleged £100,000-per-week income. It would still be a large sum for an MLS player and would qualify him as a Designated Player (DP), which will undoubtedly be useful for a player with his dubious fitness history.
As a result, Manchester United would have to pay more than 80% of his salary while paying no transfer before meeting the DP requirement.
Jones’ long-standing knee problems will also be made worse by some MLS teams’ usage of artificial turf grounds and their physically exhausting trip across the USA and Canada.
Other than the centre-back, Rooney’s links have led to reports linking him with a move for free agents, Jesse Lingard and Ravel Morrison, both of whom played for Manchester United in the past.
Morrison, who played for Derby County under Rooney, is rumoured to be close to completing the transfer. It would be interesting to see whether Jones and Lingard prefer to join him or may stay put at Old Trafford.
