Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri is pushing for the club to complete the signing of Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney, according to BBC Sport.
The network explained on their website on Wednesday that the Merseysiders’ chairman Bill Kenwright met Rooney’s agent Paul Stretford for face-to-face talks in London on Wednesday.
BBC Sport report that there is “increased momentum” to seal what would be sensational transfer given Rooney’s links to his boyhood club, who he quit at the age of 18 to join United.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman and director of football Steve Walsh have both gone pubic with their desire for the forward, 31, to have a second spell at Goodison Park.
Moreover, the man bankrolling the club’s extensive and increasingly extraordinary recruitment drive, which could mean four new forward signings in place by the end of the week, has no doubt that landing Rooney has bigger advantages than any of the club’s other signings already secured or they hope to secure.
“Moshiri would regard Rooney’s return to Goodison Park as a major coup,” BBC Sport explain. “Rooney’s best days may be behind him but he still retains a global status – making him the perfect acquisition as Everton continue their fiercely ambitious strategy of demonstrating their determination to be major players once more.
“He remains one of the most marketable players in England. Everton don’t have anyone who comes close.”
Rooney has a contract at United that runs until 2019 but has found his opportunities limited under Jose Mourinho’s management.
He became the club’s record goalscorer last season but was a substitute for most of the second half of the campaign and struggled for game time.