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Chelsea last week failed with a £20m bid for the unsettled striker, who faces a race against time to be fit for the start of the new season.

Rooney was sent home from Manchester United’s pre-season tour of Asia and Australia with the injury - which the club said would sideline him for up to a month.

But despite his fitness concerns, Rooney travelled down to the London area over the weekend and played at the member’s only Queenwood Golf Club in Surrey, where a host of Cheslea stars play.

He was spotted at the Grove Hotel in Hertfordshire on Saturday night, before journeying to Surrey on Sunday.

Queenwood is one of the most exclusive golf courses in Europe, where members can only join by invitation.

Some of the world’s top professional golfers and high rollers are members, and so secretive is the club about joining that membership fees are not made public, though Starsport understands they are in excess of £200,000.

News that Rooney was so close to Chelsea’s Cobham base will be interesting to Old Trafford officials, with United insisting they do not want to sell their £240,000-a-week striker.

But Rooney is understood to be keen on a move to Stamford Bridge, and will be aware that playing golf while recovering from a hamstring problem - and in the London area - will raise eyebrows with some.

Starsport contacted Rooney’s advisors to ask them directly about his Grove and Queenwood visits, but they declined to confirm or deny the story.