Manchester City, Real, Barcelona Won’t Move for Rooney: Roundup

The following is a roundup of soccer stories from U.K. newspapers, with clickable Internet links.

Rooney Unwanted

Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona aren’t interested in signing Wayne Rooney after the striker’s future at Manchester United was thrown into doubt following his Champions League omission this week, the Daily Mail reported.

With United said to be ready to consider offers of about 20 million pounds ($30 million) for Rooney, City is focused on pursuing Napoli’s Edinson Cavani and Atletico Madrid’s Radamel Falcao, the Mail said, adding that Real and Barcelona are concerned by reports of issues with Rooney’s fitness and conditioning.

Chain Reaction

Rooney’s fate may depend on City’s Edin Dzeko moving to Borussia Dortmund, which would allow the German champion to sell Robert Lewandowski to United for about 18 million pounds, the Daily Mirror reported.

Lewandowski’s arrival at Old Trafford would then enable United manager Alex Ferguson to jettison Rooney, with the club likely to receive about 25 million pounds for the England striker, the Mirror said.

Weekly Watch

Ajax playmaker Christian Eriksen is an offseason transfer target for Tottenham and Liverpool, who have been scouting him on an almost weekly basis, the Independent reported.

The Danish midfielder has refused to sign a new contract and wants to play in England, the newspaper added. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is said to be confident of driving down Ajax’s asking price of 14 million pounds to about 8 million pounds because Eriksen has one year left on his current agreement, the Independent said.

Suarez’s Salary

Liverpool’s Luis Suarez is said to have received a raise lifting his wage to more than 100,000 pounds a week under the terms of his incentive-based contract, the Guardian reported.

The Uruguay striker, who’s scored 21 league goals this season, is the first major beneficiary of a system introduced by club owner Fenway Sports Group that rewards players for reaching certain targets, the newspaper added.

Everton Target

Everton is planning an offseason move for Porto forward Christian Atsu, who has a release clause of 8 million pounds in his contract, the Daily Express reported.

Atsu, who’s contracted with the Portuguese club until 2014, was on Tottenham’s radar during the January transfer window, the newspaper added.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Baynes in Sydney at dbaynes@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net