Everton keen to see Rooney return
Manchester United’s all time leading goal scorer Wayne Rooney is expected to leave the club on a free transfer and return to Everton.
Rooney, 31, left Everton as seriously promising teenager for Old Trafford and has served the club ever since.
However, several British publications have reported the England international has been withdrawn from Manchester United’s tour of the United States with Everton agreeing terms with the striker who they sold for around $60m 13 years ago.
Rooney was believed to have been interested in a move to the United States with one of the Major League Soccer clubs but none of them were tempted.
It is believed there was interest from China but Rooney did not want to move his family there, despite the huge monetary benefits.
Everton have been busy early in the transfer market, signing Michael Keane from Burnley for a fee that could rise to a club recordequalling $53m.
Keane, 24, moves to Goodison Park after agreeing a five-year contract.
The England defender is Everton’s fifth signing of the summer, with Malaga striker Sandro Ramirez also joining on Monday for $9.2m.
Those signings take Everton’s spending in this transfer window to more than £90m, a total including a deal worth of to $53m for goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
There are also strong rumours that Everton are looking to bring Arsenal front man Olivier Giroud to the club. ❚ Arsenal look on the verge of signing Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette after he completed a medical ahead of his proposed $80m record move. The Gunners were knocked back when the club first had an initial bid for the 26-year-old France international rejected but they persisted.
His fee would surpass the $76m Arsenal paid Real madrid for Mesut Ozil, money you could argue was not well spent.
Lacazette was second top scorer in Ligue 1 - the French top flight - last season with 28 goals.
He has scored 129 goals in 275 matches in all competitions since breaking into the first team in the 2009-10 campaign. ❚ Newly promoted Huddersfield Town have signed Derby winger Tom Ince for an undisclosed fee and Reading midfielder Danny Williams after his contract expired. Ince, 25, who scored 38 goals in 115 games for Derby, has signed a three-year contract.
USA international Williams, 28, has agreed a two-year deal.
Chelsea’s 20-year-old forward Kasey Palmer, who spent last season on loan with the Terriers, has agreed another season-long loan. ❚ Former Ajax boss Frank de Boar has taken over the manager’s job at Crystal Palace. The 47-year-old former defender was capped 112 times by the Netherlands, playing in two World Cups and three European Championships.
He also played for the likes of Ajax, Barcelona and Rangers. ❚ Poor old Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has been left unimpressed by the club’s lack of transfer dealings. After United’s Europa League final win against Ajax, Mourinho said he had given executive vicechairman Ed Woodward a list of transfer targets.
It is understood Mourinho wants at least one forward to compensate for the loss of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 35, because of injury, as well as a holding midfield player.