Arsenal are ready to slap in an opening bid for Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney. The Daily Mail says Arsenal are ready to make an audacious £20m bid for Rooney - with Arsene Wenger keen on playing Manchester United's England star in an attacking midfield role behind Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain.

Wenger does not see Rooney as a centre-forward but as a link man between midfield and Higuain - the position which the player himself says he prefers. But with Chelsea also sizing up a bid and United's new manager David Moyes due to meet Rooney in the next two weeks, the prospect of him joining the north London club remains debatable.