David Moyes welcomes chance to play mind games with Chelsea over Wayne Rooney
Manchester United manager welcomes the chance of psychological fight with Chelsea's Mourinho, who is eager to land Rooney
New Manchester United manager David Moyes says he is looking forward to playing "mind games" with Jose Mourinho as Chelsea step up their interest in unsettled striker Wayne Rooney.
Amid reports that Mourinho's Chelsea are considering a £40 million (HK$473 million) bid to land Rooney, the Premier League champions insist the England striker is not for sale.
Moyes won his first match as United manager in the Red Devils' 5-1 victory over the Australian A-League All Stars in Sydney on Saturday, but the main interest again centred on players not on the club's pre-season Asian tour.
Moyes remained tight-lipped on the Rooney situation and the club's attempts to sign midfielder Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona.
"I have not had any more news since we last spoke [on Friday]," Moyes said. "I have no more updates of anything really, so I cannot give you anything positive or negative."
Pressed further, Moyes was asked by a Scottish reporter about his readiness for a battle of mind games with the cagey Mourinho.
"It sounds like your accent is the same as mine, so you must be from Glasgow," Moyes said. "But if you're from Glasgow you quite enjoy those kind of things, so bring it on."
British newspapers reported that United are prepared to increase their offer to lure former Arsenal playmaker Fabregas to Old Trafford. Moyes, whose squad were due to fly to Tokyo yesterday for the next leg of their pre-season tour, confirmed last week that a formal offer, in the region of £26 million, had been lodged for Fabregas.
Meanwhile, the 50-year-old, who took over when Alex Ferguson retired at the end of last season, says the club's Asian tour has brought home to him the size of his new job.
More than 20,000 turned out to watch the English champions train on Friday night and tickets for Saturday's match against an All Star XI picked from the A-League sold out in eight minutes with 83,127 packed into the Olympic Stadium.
"The enormity of the job sunk in even more yesterday when I saw an incredible video about Manchester United, seen Sir Matt Busby followed by Sir Alex Ferguson," he said on Friday.
"If I didn't know it before, I certainly knew it when I saw what those two gentlemen had done before me.
"It's a great job, it's a fantastic club - a football club that everybody in the world knows the name of and I'm very fortunate and privileged I was given the opportunity to manage."
