British television personality Piers Morgan has claimed that Wayne Rooney confirmed to him that he had received a lucrative offer to move to the Chinese Super League.
Reports last month claimed that at least two Far East-based clubs were prepared to pay the Manchester United skipper £500,000 a week to make the switch.
Neither Rooney nor United have publicly commented on the speculation, but Morgan has insisted that he broached the subject with the 30-year-old.
Writing in his Daily Mail column, Arsenal fan Morgan said: "My phone rang at 11pm tonight. It was England football captain Wayne Rooney. He wanted to discuss his forthcoming Manchester United testimonial plans this summer.
"But we also talked about reports in the papers this week that he's been offered ridiculous sums of money to go and play in China for Shanghai, a team managed by Sven-Goran Eriksson.
"'It's true,' he said. 'How big a salary are we talking?' Rooney chuckled. 'Come on,' I prodded, 'make me sick.'
"He then revealed a figure, based on a three-year deal, so stupendously, stratospherically gigantic that it did indeed make me feel instantly nauseous. (Without giving too much away, let's just say it included eight noughts) I literally gasped in horror, prompting him to add a final killer blow: 'After tax!'
"'There's another advantage I can see,' I said. 'What's that?' 'The Chinese fans won't realise how slow you've got.' '**** off!'
"My guess is Rooney won't leave United for another year or two. But one thing's for sure, the Chinese are coming for world football and as with everything they do in business, they seem to have almost limitless sums of cash with which to dominate it."
A host of players have transferred to China since the turn of the year, including Ramires, Alex Teixeira and Ezequiel Lavezzi.
Liam Apicella
