No Resolution From Rooney Talks

Instead, after a frantic day of comings and goings, United today released a statement, which only brought greater confusion to the matter.

"We are aware that there is intense public and media interest on the club at the moment, but there are no developments of note to report today," read an official club statement, released at 5am AEDT.

"I can confirm a number of meetings have taken place today, including with the player's representative.

"The outcome of those meetings will become clear in the near future. In the meantime, fans are asked to be patient."

Although words can be interpreted in many different ways, the toned down content of the statement suggests plenty of heat has been taken out of the entire situation since Rooney released his own statement which effectively claimed United no longer matched his ambitions.

It was an issue Ferguson addressed immediately after yesterday's Champions League win over Bursaspor, before he had even ready the full text.

The Red Devils chief added that a meeting with chief executive David Gill had been scheduled for 8pm last night, at which Rooney's Old Trafford fate was expected to be sealed.

As it turned out, it was hours later before Ferguson and Gill had face-to-face talks, which took place at Old Trafford, rather than at the Carrington training complex as had been imagined by the mass ranks of the media, who gathered believing they were about to witness the death throes of an illustrious United career.

After spending approximately an hour inside the stadium, Ferguson drove off, with Gill eventually following.

Yet there has still been no confirmation of what had been discussed, nor any reason offered for the delay to the timetable Ferguson had laid down, even though, last night, it appeared the final outcome - a Rooney departure in January - was a formality.

Many theories could be offered.

Beyond dispute is that with the Glazer family based in Florida, transatlantic communication would have put the deadline back if it had been required, even though Ferguson had already revealed conversations took place on Wednesday between Gill and United's controversial owners.

Rooney's trusted adviser Paul Stretford has clearly also been heavily involved, even if the possibility of United lodging a gross misconduct charge against a player who cost them £27million when he signed from Everton in 2004 was regarded as impossible to force through despite his damning assessment of the club's recruitment policy.

Although the chances appear slim in the extreme, it cannot entirely be discounted there has been some kind of thaw in relations.

A succession of managers, including Roberto Mancini and Jose Mourinho, have claimed this week their belief that Rooney will remain at United.

Even today, following the most recent outpouring of bad blood, there were some, like Bolton's Owen Coyle, who suggested Rooney's place remained at Old Trafford.

Without some kind of clarification, the void can be filled with all kinds of rumour.

Ferguson launched a passionate defence of his own transfer policy last night, which directly answered one of Rooney's main complaints.

And, while there have been rumours that some within the United playing squad have been left deeply unhappy at Rooney's insinuation of them being substandard, others have openly expressed a hope the striker, who celebrates his 25th birthday this weekend, can be persuaded to stay.

"Wayne is one of the best players we have. Everyone knows that," full-back Patrice Evra said.

"I don't really know what he has said but I hope he gets fit quickly and I sincerely hope he plays for us again.

"But I am not Wayne Rooney. I am not Sir Alex Ferguson."