Manchester United player Wayne Rooney has reportedly flown to England home from Manchester United's pre-season Asia-Pacific tour with a hamstring injury and will be out for a month.
As if Rooney's injury was not enough, new United manager David Moyes was handed yet another hammer blow after he failed to sign Barcelona midfielder Thiago Alcantara, who will instead sign for Bayern Munich, the Mirror reports.
According to the report, Rooney was due to lead United's attack in Bangkok as Robin van Persie would not be joining the tour until Sydney and Javier Hernandez missing it altogether, adding that the troubled player's role would now be filled by Danny Welbeck.
The report further said that Rooney had complained of soreness before leaving the UK, although he trained with his team-mates in Thailand on Thursday, adding that England striker had to go home for rehabilitation after a scan revealed a tear in his hamstring muscle.
While the Old Trafford giants prepare for the opening game of their summer tour against a Singha XI in the Thai capital, the report however, said that Rooney's withdrawal from the trip, which will also see matches in Australia, Japan and Hong Kong, will heighten speculation about his future, which is yet to be resolved.
The report mentioned that Rooney's future still remains in limbo with Chelsea and Arsenal keen to sign him despite meetings with Moyes.
Meanwhile, the report said that Alcantara might follow his former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola to Germany even though United agreed to an 18 million-pound deal with Barcelona for him, with Guardiola saying that Spain's highly rated under-21 captain is the only player he wants to add to the squad he has inherited at the Allianz Arena.
Missing out on Alcantara will hurt Moyes, who also appears to have been pipped by Manchester City for 28 million-pound rated Fiorentina ace Stevan Jovetic, the report added.