Come on in and join the club! Get our daily Manchester United email newsletter Sign me up! Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Wayne Rooney returns to Manchester United for pre-season tests on Wednesday facing the most important assessment of all - over where his future lies.

England striker Rooney will have a second round of talks with boss David Moyes within the next 48 hours, after both men laid out their positions in a secret meeting recently.

And Rooney's fate will be decided by how he reacts to a meeting over a meal between Moyes and the player's advisors, where the new manager will set out the vision for his United.

Sources close to Moyes, who only officially began his new job on Monday, suggest he is still hoping to find a solution that allows the striker to stay.

Moyes has inherited a tricky situation - Sir Alex Ferguson offered the suggestion that the time may be ripe for the 27-year-old to be sold this summer after what he claimed was a second transfer request submitted before the end of last season.

Rooney denies asking for a move.

(Image: Julian Hamilton)

While Rooney would prefer to play in a central striking role for the Old Trafford giants, he has told Moyes he is happy to play a team role either wide in a three-man forward line or at the front of midfield if required.

Indeed, he feels his long term future will involve dropping back towards the midfield in a Scholes-type role.

But Ferguson's presence as a new director of the club makes things difficult, because the forward has also told Moyes he would need the club to 'clarify' the events of last season and make clear he didn't submit a transfer request - or ask to be left out on the final day of the season.

That would amount to a climb-down for Fergie and is clearly not going to happen - the former boss is still quietly suggesting to the board that Rooney was frequently injured last season, and is at an age when any transfer fee would be maximised.

Moyes is not inclined to go against the great man so soon and has listened carefully to the club's position on their controversial striker.

(Image: Getty)

But at the same time, he really could do without the disruption a sale would inevitably throw up - and also the search for a striker of equal standing.

The balance still seems to lean towards a Rooney departure, but Moyes will sit down with the player and his chief advisor, Paul Stretford, for another relaxed conversation to see if there if any accommodation to be made, in the hope the situation can be resolved.

Ferguson's former assistant Mike Phelan says: "Wayne is at the greatest club you can be at. Why would you want to jeopardise that - unless you want a fresh challenge and you feel that challenge isn't being met at Manchester United."

Our chief sports writer Oliver Holt reckons Rooney should quit Manchester United this summer. Click here to read why.