Wayne Rooney knows he would be waving away a fortune if he was to demand a transfer from Manchester United.
Two bids from Chelsea, and Jose Mourinho's mischievous promise of a third, have met with steadfast resistance from the champions.
The Daily Mail says a formal transfer request was on the cards at the start of this month. It was the talk of United's training ground for several days but never materialised because Rooney realised it would have been futile.
He would also have risked losing millions in bonuses like former team-mate Carlos Tevez, whose transfer request to Manchester City in 2010 ended up costing him £6million.
