Chelsea admit Rooney bid, reject claims Mata/Luiz were offered

Chelsea have confirmed that a bid was made for Wayne Rooney in the wake of his reported unsettlement at Manchester United, but claim that reports of David Luiz or Juan Mata being offered in the deal are wide of the mark.

Via the Independent's Sam Wallace:

Chelsea: 'The terms of [Rooney] offer are confidential but for avoidance of doubt ... didn't include transfer or loan of any CFC players'

— Sam Wallace (@SamWallaceIndy) July 17, 2013

This is all very strange. As we said about the initial bid, United would certainly have briefed it, whether it was true or false, and now Chelsea have denied it... but not denied making a bid for Rooney. There's some cloak-and-dagger stuff at work here, and United may have an ulterior motive in unsettling Chelsea's players, but there's also the point to be made that Chelsea are probably bound to refute any talk of offering players and unsettling them themselves.

This one looks like it's going to have a lot of twists in the tale. Latest developments when we get them.