Wayne Rooney prepares to put feelings in black and white

MANCHESTER UNITED are braced for an escalation in their summer-long conflict with Wayne Rooney.

Wayne Rooney

MANCHESTER UNITED are braced for an escalation in their summer-long conflict with Wayne Rooney.

The England forward remains extremely unsettled and is prepared to consider submitting a written transfer request to try to engineer a move to Chelsea.

David Moyes, the United manager, has maintained that Rooney will not be sold, but his and the club's resolve is set to be tested not just by a renewed bid from Chelsea, but by the player's apparent determination to force the issue.

Formally requesting a transfer would represent a last resort for Rooney, particularly since his unrest stems partly from Sir Alex Ferguson's claim that he did so last April, but it is one to which the forward is now giving serious consideration. United expect Rooney and Chelsea to intensify their pursuit of a deal in the build-up to the Barclays Premier League season, which begins on August 17, and the transfer deadline on September 2.

Rooney trained under Moyes yesterday for the first time since a hamstring injury forced him to withdraw from United's pre-season tour to Asia and Australia three weeks ago. The pair have spoken since Rooney was irked by a comment Moyes made in an interview while in Bangkok on July 12, but the player has proved resistant to the manager's attempts at appeasement.

There remain some discrepancies between United's public and private stance on Rooney, with the developments of recent months leaving a sense of exasperation, but their determination not to sell to Chelsea appears to be genuine.

Chelsea had a 23 million pounds ($38.93m) offer for Rooney rejected last month, but, as The Times reported on Monday, the London club plan to make a second bid after next weekend, by which time the forward's position could feasibly have been weakened by a hostile reception from fans at their pre-season matches.

Having resumed training, Rooney is on course to make his first appearance in a United shirt since May 5 when Moyes takes his team to Stockholm to play a friendly match against AIK on Tuesday - a fixture that the club have promoted as the unsettled forward's return to action. Three days later they will face Seville in Rio Ferdinand's testimonial at Old Trafford, where Rooney was jeered by United supporters on the day that he and his team-mates paraded the Premier League trophy in May.

Rooney's relationship with United deteriorated in the final months of Ferguson's tenure, but his representatives maintain that, contrary to the former manager's claim in a television interview, he did not request a transfer in April.

To Rooney's frustration, the club have not clarified what he did or did not say to Ferguson. United are eager to move on from an exchange that happened under a different manager and the previous chief executive, with David Gill having since been replaced by Ed Woodward.

The Rooney saga is an unwelcome distraction for Woodward and Moyes as they continue their efforts to strengthen the squad. Having missed out on Thiago Alcantara, who preferred to join Bayern Munich, and so far encountered resistance from Barcelona over Cesc Fabregas, Moyes is considering alternative targets such as Luka Modric, of Real Madrid, and Marouane Fellaini, of Everton.

United have also encountered disappointment in their pursuit of Leighton Baines, with Everton rejecting their bids for the England left back, but Moyes is said to remain optimistic that his squad will be stronger by the time the transfer window closes. Whether Rooney is part of it remains to be seen.

The Times