Wayne Rooney has reacted to speculation that his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson has broken down and he may leave Manchester United by branding it as "absolute rubbish" in a tweet. It also suggested that the striker sees his long-term future being at Old Trafford.

Rooney used his Twitter account to write: "Read the nonsense in the papers and heard what people have to say.absolute rubbish". The tweet was accompanied with the hashtag #heretostay to indicate the 26-year-old wants to remain a United player for the foreseeable future.

Writing in his programme notes on Saturday ahead of United's 3-2 win over Fulham Ferguson said how refreshing it was that his new signing Robin van Persie had chosen United before adding: "If I hear a player has fallen out of love with us, and is looking elsewhere I invariably help them out of the door."

This suggested that the Scot might not have forgotten how Rooney made a transfer request two years ago when he cited his perception that United could not match his ambition. With Rooney also being dropped last Christmas ahead of a defeat to Blackburn Rovers for a disciplinary matter and Ferguson leaving him out for the Fulham game, preferring instead to start Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa, a view arose of a ever widening rift between the two.

Yet speaking the week before on the 10th anniversary of his professional debut Rooney had given no indication of any discontent with life at United. He said: "I'm still fairly young. I feel young anyway. It's great to have played in the Premier League for 10 years. It's an exciting league and I still feel exactly the same about my football as I did when I made my debut. I just hope I can play for another 10 years and have as much enjoyment as I did in my first 10."

Ferguson watched a strong United Under-21 side on Wednesday evening as they took on Tottenham Hotspur in Altrincham.

Jonny Evans, who is in line to ease United's central defensive crisis by starting at Southampton on Sunday, started alongside Darren Fletcher, who is returning from a long-term illness. Also featuring were Alexander Buttner, the recently signed left-back, and Federico Macheda, the striker now in contention for the senior match-day squad due to Rooney's leg injury that has ruled him out for at least four weeks.