PREMIER LEAGUE MOURINHO WILL OFFER ROONEY TO LURE LUKAKU
JOSE MOURINHO has made Everton striker Romelu Lukaku his top summer target and is ready to offer Wayne Rooney as part of the deal.
Everton are demanding £100million for Lukaku, the Premier League’s top scorer, who is wanted by Chelsea as well as Manchester United. But United want to pay much less and may propose a deal that would enable Rooney’s return to Goodison Park.
United value their record goalscorer at £17m, but Rooney, 31, is likely to demand a sizeable pay-off to cover the last two years of his £250,000-a-week contract.
Everton are reluctant to offer more than £10m for Rooney, who will have to take a £100,000-a-week pay cut if he returns to his boyhood club. Rooney accepts he will leave United this summer despite claiming earlier this week that he wants to continue at Old Trafford.
But the England striker is determined to go on his own terms and will not accept being a makeweight — unless the deal is right.
While a return to Everton appeals, there may be more lucrative options on offer in China and America’s Major League Soccer.
Mourinho wants to sign two strikers this summer and has put Lukaku — who has refused to sign a new Everton deal — at the top of his wish list ahead of Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann. Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez is another target, according to reports last night in the player’s Colombian homeland.
But Mourinho sees the 6ft 3in Lukaku as the long- term replacement for Zlatan Ibrahimovic — regardless of whether the Swedish star plays for United again after major knee surgery.
Mourinho let Lukaku leave Chelsea for Everton for £28m in 2014, but is ready to battle his old club for the 24-year-old.
It will mean doing more business with Mino Raiola, Lukaku’s agent who also represents Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Sports
mail revealed earlier this week that Raiola earned £41.39m cut from Pogba’s move to United.
Lukaku would give Mourinho the physical target-man he likes his teams to have after bemoaning the lack of ‘killers’ at United in recent weeks.
United have scored 51 goals in the league this season, fewer than Bournemouth, and trail well behind the top-four clubs. After seeing United struggle to see off Celta Vigo on Thursday, Mourinho moaned: ‘Our story is normally when we play very well we don’t score enough goals.’
United face Ajax in the final in Stockholm on May 24 and Mourinho will make changes for United’s last three Premier League fixtures against Tottenham tomorrow, Southampton and Crystal Palace to keep his first-choice team fresh.
Yesterday, Kevin Mirallas signed a contract extension at Everton until June 2020.
United will take up to 10,000 fans to Stockholm, but have scrapped their staff trip to let as many supporters as possible attend.
United receive tickets for staff, players and directors but are forgoing almost all of their allowance. Executive vicechairman Ed Woodward has sent an email to staff explaining the decision, with a party planned in Manchester instead.
It means more than 9,000 Reds should be able to make their way to Sweden, with thousands buying tickets in the neutral end from UEFA’s website.
has been told any further reductions to the capacity owing to segregation will be at the Ajax end.