Mourinho speaks out on third Rooney bid

José Mourinho has strongly suggested Chelsea will bid again for Wayne Rooney, but states that the club will not be making any bid before his side take on Manchester United on Monday.

Speaking after his side's narrow 2-1 victory over Aston Villa, Mourinho was asked about the United striker and said: "I don't want Chelsea to do it before we go there, from the ethical point of view."

'Ethical' is a word that Mourinho's used a lot throughout this transfer saga, and you can make of that what you will. It's still very possible that Rooney will be leaving United for Stamford Bridge, and although we may have heard 'he set up two goals!' in the wake of his performance at Swansea, that hardly tells the whole picture, as he plodded around moodily like he didn't want to be there, both of his 'assists' being basic in the extreme.

Let's be honest - I'm sure Danny Graham would bang in quite a few goals if he was playing up front for United for a season. Rooney simply isn't offering value in excess of what could be gained by freeing up his wages and getting his transfer fee. How much of that will be reinvested is, of course, open to question, but let's hope United just cut their losses before the window's out. It's all gone mysteriously quiet otherwise - it looks like the last few days following that game against Chelsea could be pretty frantic.