José Mourinho is refusing to relent in his pursuit of Wayne Rooney. The Chelsea manager has already had two bids – the latest believed to be in the region of £25m – rejected by Manchester United for the unsettled forward, with David Moyes stressing the 27-year-old will not be sold.

But, with Rooney understood to be angry with Moyes's stance and ready to leave the Premier League champions, Mourinho knows there is enough discontent to keep alive his hope of bringing the England forward to Stamford Bridge.

Rooney's advisers are fully aware of the Portuguese's intentions and if, as expected, the striker hands in a transfer request within the next week, that will encourage a third Chelsea bid to test United's resolve further.

Mourinho, who suffered his first pre-season defeat on Wednesday when Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Real Madrid to win the inaugural Guinness International Champions Cup, will not give up without a fight.

Images of Rooney training with United's reserves on Thursday would have been duly noted at Chelsea's Washington DC base.

"We are far away so we are not in England to know every detail but we are doing things in the correct way," Mourinho said after the Real match. "We made the bid and Manchester United have reacted. Let's see what happens. But we can't do more than we are doing now.

"We are doing things legally, making the official bid directly to the club, no interviews or comments or direct relations with the player, no contact, absolutely nothing. We are doing everything in an ethical way, so let's see if things change.

"There is no time limit. We have our squad of strikers. We have identified the player as one we would like to have with us. We have done it in an ethical way and we are going to do that until the last day. And we will see how it comes."

While Chelsea have fared well in the US with a number of promising youngsters such as Kevin De Bruyne, the Dutch midfielder Marco van Ginkel and André Schürrle all impressing, the need for a stellar striker remains Mourinho's number-one priority.

Asked if he would be happy to begin the season without Rooney on board, Mourinho said: "What we have is what we have. We have very good young players, they don't need us to buy players to replace them. What they need is our trust and work and our support."

One player who will not be leaving is the Brazilian defender David Luiz. Chelsea instantly rejected Barcelona's £35m bid on Tuesday, with Mourinho leaving the La Liga champions in no doubt about what would happen if they try again.

"It's lost time for them. My advice to them is to go to the second player on their list because they are wasting their time," he said. "We don't want to lose our best players. No chance."

Taking on his former club less than three moths after their acrimonious parting of the ways was always going to be difficult for Mourinho, who was roundly booed and shrieked at by the predominantly Real Madrid supporting crowd at the Sun Life Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins.

Madrid certainly deserved their victory with a performance which suggested Carlo Ancelotti is already beginning to mould a side which will challenge Barcelona in the forthcoming La Liga season.

Mourinho, though, in typical fashion, was quick to point out the reasons why Madrid were quicker to the ball and more dominant overall. Ancelotti's players have been based here for three days while Chelsea have flown in and out of the Washington DC base on match days.

"This was a friendly, so there was no celebrations when we won friendlies and no dramas because we lost," he added. "We could see the difference in approach from both teams. They have been here for three days. They are preparing for this match.

"I know they have trained once a day and I know one of those days was a recovery session. They play with the best team for the first minute and they made their first change when it was 3-1. We had a completely different approach. I need to see my players. I need to make conclusions."