LONDON, England, August 27- Jose Mourinho has given Wayne Rooney 48 hours to go public about his desire to leave Manchester United for Chelsea — or he will switch his attention to another striking target.
The Chelsea manager has had two bids for the United forward rejected this summer and had stated before Monday’s 0-0 draw between the two clubs that he would return with a third offer after the match.
But now the Portuguese said he believes Rooney will stay with the Premier League champions and told the 27-year-old it is up to him to force a move if he wants to join Chelsea.
And he has given Rooney a deadline to “finish” the story — either by revealing his desire to leave Old Trafford or by committing his future to United.
“This club must be a very special club because at every club in the world, when the player wants to leave they [the fans] don’t support him,” Mourinho said.
“When a player wants to leave they give him a hard time but [here] they support him all the way so I think this is a real special club with special fans so he decides that he wants to stay. If that is his decision then we will be the first to respect that.
“It depends on this, it depends on his reaction, it depends on his feelings. If now, he does not want to leave, we are out of the scene – but we need to know what is happening.
“We are going to [sign] another player if he is not coming. If he is not coming, I want to close another player. How long will we wait? 24, 48 hours.”
And Mourinho insisted he only pursued Rooney because the striker had privately made it clear he wanted to join Chelsea.
“He told somebody who is very important in his career,” added the former Inter Milan and Real Madrid manager, who said the ball is now in Rooney’s court.
“The person that started the story has to finish the story,” he explained.
“A club like us, a manager like me, the people that work in the club with me… we are not silly to try to get a player from a big club that doesn’t sell what they don’t want to sell.
“We are not silly to try something if somebody didn’t start it. So I think it is time for the good of everyone to finish the story. For one side, for the other side.”
-By Soccernet.com
