Manchester United set to offer new contract to Wayne Rooney

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson says striker Wayne Rooney will be offered a new contract by Manchester United before his pound 230,000-a-week deal ends in 2015. According to a report in Daily Mail United striker Rooney could get a new contract with the club.

Ferguson denied all the speculations regarding Rooney's future and said compared him with the likes of Paul Gascoigne and Bobby Charlton. "He is the Paul Gascoigne, the Bobby Charlton. He's the best English player. He is coming to his mature years. He's had a lot of issues this year in terms of illness, injuries and not had a long run of games, but he's still got me 14 goals. He'll end up with 20 goals, no doubt about that.' "There is no issue with the contract. When it has to be renegotiated, it will be,' said Ferguson.

There have been talks about Rooney's future with United after he was not picked in the starting 11 of Champions League tie against Real Madrid at Old Trafford. Despite Ferguson's public stance, United's money men would expect Rooney to take a pay cut if he is not going to be an automatic choice for the biggest matches, and interest from clubs abroad such as Paris St-Germain would be considered carefully.

Ferguson has previously insisted that Rooney will not be sold in the summer. But by indicating a new contract will be forthcoming, he has put the ball firmly in Rooney's court over his future. Rooney signed a pound 60 million, five-year contract with United in 2010, having controversially handed in a transfer request after claiming that the club did not match his ambition.

But he has fallen down the pecking order this season, following the arrival of Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa and the emergence of Danny Welbeck. Contract negotiations for star players are normally dealt with two years before they are due to end, so Rooney's future is expected to be one of the first things on the in-tray of incoming United chief executive Ed Woodward. Ferguson stated 'on his word' that Rooney will remain at United next season. Cynics, however, will remember him once dismissing the idea of Cristiano Ronaldo leaving.