Real Madrid manager José Mourinho is discouraging of any suggestion that Wayne Rooney would be heading to Bernabéu. He told Sky Sports: “My thoughts are he will stay. He probably wants to leave for some reasons, but I believe he belongs to Manchester United, he belongs to Manchester United fans, he belongs to Old Trafford.”
In the past Mourinho has declared himself an admirer of Wayne Rooney. He has claimed he would like to coach him. There could be several reasons to his caution around Rooney now. These are our suggestions:
- Mourinho is unsure about Rooney’s more than six months out of form and does not want to gamble on such a high profile player, with equally high wages.
- Mourinho is not declaring any interest at this stage, because he knows Rooney has not been in talks with Real Madrid for the past couple of months. This would mean that Rooney is probably heading elsewhere.
- Or Mourinho has in fact been in contact with Rooney ever since he took over at Real Madrid. He is just playing innocent in the face of Sir Alex Ferguson and all Manchester United fans.

If Real Madrid is not a contender for Wayne Rooney’s signature, then which clubs have the money and a keen interest in signing this high profile, out of form striker? Could we be ready for a major betrayal with Wayne Rooney choosing Manchester City instead of Manchester United. City fans might be dreaming of a reunion with Tevez and Rooney, while in fact Tevez has been unhappy at City and could instead be replaced by Rooney.
Should Wayne Rooney choose to leave England but not for Real Madrid, another possibility would be Italy where the only likely candidate is Inter Milan. Their neighbours AC Milan would probably need Rooney more but they won’t have the money. Are there any clubs in Germany who could come to the party?
At present it is still Manchester City and Real Madrid people keep their eyes on, regardless of Mourinho’s statements to the media.

Tom Huddlestone’s 25 yard strike away at Fulham has been subject of much debate over the weekend. Referee Mike Dean first ruled out the goal, after his assistant flagged William Gallas off-side for Tottenham. He then changed his mind and awarded the goal. We will explain why that was a correct decision by the referee.

Following a Spurs corner the ball found its way to Tom Huddlestone, whose low shot from 25 yards skidded through a crowd of players and into the left-hand corner of the net. Up went linesman Martin Yerby’s flag against William Gallas, who had been a fraction offside when the ball was struck. On the way through the ball deflected off Fulham defender Chris Baird. William Gallas charged at the ball just before it passed Fulham’s goalkeeper and crossed the line.

There are four questions to be answered:
- Was Gallas off-side when Huddlestone struck the ball. Yes.
- Was Gallas active in play for the ball, interferring play or obstructing the keeper, AT THE TIME Huddlestone struck the ball? No.
- Did the ball take a deflection off a Fulham player? Yes.
- Did Gallas touch the ball? No.
That Gallas was actively trying to get to the ball after the deflection is irrelevant. The Fulham player can’t play him off-side. The referee had perfect view of what happened, while the linesman only saw that he was off-side. The linesman didn’t know whether Gallas touched it or if it deflected of a Fulham player. The linesman did his job, while the referee did an excellent job in keeping his head cool to make the right decision! This is all according to the present off-side rule as it is. Well done, Mr Dean.

David Silva is a winger who plays for English side Manchester City and the Spanish national team. Silva joined the youth ranks at Valencia as a 14 year old. After being out on loan to two different Segunda Division clubs he secured his place in Valencia team when he was 20. After four seasons in the first team he transferred to Manchester City in June 2010. Silva played at various youth levels for Spain and made his debut for the senior team in November 2006. He played his part for Spain’s winning team at the 2008 UEFA European Championship, scoring in the semifinal against Russia. Silva was in the squad winning the 2010 FIFA World Championship but with limited playing-time. He’s back in force again for Spain’s Euro 2012 campaign, scoring in their first two qualifying matches.

Mladen Petrić is a striker who plays for German side Hamburger SV and the Croatian national team. Petrić grew up in Switzerland and played for various Swiss teams, including Grasshoppers and Basel, before heading to Germany. He was the Swiss league’s top scorer in the 2006-07 season, his last season for Basel. He had a good first season in Germany, playing for Borussia Dortmund, then transferred to Hamburger SV ahead of the 2008-09 season.
Petrić made his debut for Croatia in 2001. He was not included in the 2002 World Cup squad but played a couple of matches later in the year. He was not called up between late 2002 and early 2006. After another couple of matches he was not included in the 2006 World Cup squad either. He was then brought back and played in most of the qualifying matches towards the 2008 European Championship. When Croatia beat Andorra 7-0 in October 2006 Petrić scored four of the goals. He is the first ever player to have scored four goals in a competitive match for Croatia. In the last qualifying match, against England on 21 November 2007, he scored the winning goal in a 3-2 victory which denied England from qualifying. Petrić went on to play for Croatia at Euro 2008. His latest international goal so far came in September 2010, in a Euro 2012 qualifying match against Latvia.

Rafael van der Vaart is an attacking midfielder/second striker who plays for English side Tottenham.
He made his senior international debut for Netherlands as an 18 year old in 2001. Van der Vaart joined the famous Ajax youth academy when he was ten and made his first team debut at seventeen. As a youngster he was predicted to have a huge career as a playmaker and was voted European Talent of the Year in 2001. Soon after that he started to struggle with several serious injuries. Still he scored goals and was named Ajax captain in 2004. Unfortunately he struggled in the 2004/05 season and was stripped for the captaincy and eventually left Ajax for German side Hamburg SV. It was a surprise move but in his first season for Hamburg he was their top scorer and in the next he was given the team captaincy.

At the end of the 2007/08 season several Italian and Spanish clubs were interested in his signature. In August 2008 Real Madrid paid Hamburg €13 million for his transfer to Bernabéu. He had mixed success at Real Madrid and struggled to establish himself within the team. Van der Vaart was struggling to fulfill his potential. On the last day of the August 2010 transfer window Van der Vaart signed for Tottenham Hotspur for what is regarded as a bargain price of £8 million. Van der Vaart has immediately settled in with his new club and seems to have found some of the brilliance from his days at Hamburg. He also still plays a crucial part in the Dutch national team, runners-up at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.