Manchester United will play hardball with Wayne Rooney over his demands to stay at Old Trafford.The Sun says the champions refuse to be rushed into offering the striker a new mega contract.

And neither are they willing to bow to any demands to contradict Sir Alex Ferguson's claim the player asked to leave.

A United source said: "This is not like the last time. Then United did everything to keep him. This time he is not the same player and a lot of people are starting to lose patience."