Wayne Rooney will give evidence in court as he fights a £4.3million lawsuit. The Manchester United and England striker will be questioned over his involvement with controversial football agent Paul Stretford, who represented the player for six years.

Mr Stretford, a founder and director of the sports management firm Proactive, brokered multimillion-pound deals with firms including Nike and Coca-Cola for Rooney.

Mr Stretford also acted for Rooney's wife Coleen, whose celebrity career took off as the player established himself as an England regular following his £20million transfer to Manchester United in 2004.

The deals agreed to pay Proactive 20% commission but, after Mr Stretford left the firm in acrimony in October 2008, no further commission payments have been paid.

Proactive's lawyers claim that, under the terms of the contract Mr Stretford signed with the Rooneys while he was working for the firm, they are still due the commission payments - now amounting to a minimum of £4.3million.