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Fergie wants Rooney future resolved on Thursday

Wayne Rooney wants out of Manchester United © PA Photos

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Sir Alex Ferguson predicted Manchester United would put the Wayne Rooney saga "to bed" in the next 24 hours after they laboured past Bursaspor in the Champions League.

Rooney released a statement on Wednesday confirming that he wants to leave the club, citing a perceived lack of ambition within Old Trafford, and Ferguson confirmed he will meet chief executive David Gill on Thursday morning at 10am to discuss the matter.

While Ferguson pointed to United's trophy haul to counter Rooney's claim, he told Sky Sports 2: "I've not read it all, I've seen bits on TV - we'll have a view of it tomorrow and see where we go from there.

"We'll probably put it to bed tomorrow. We've got an important game on Sunday, the players want to focus on that and so do I. The door is open, we're that kind of club that we want to keep good players, particularly when they're as good as that.''

Ferguson had words of praise for Nani after the Portugal winger superbly curled home from outside the area in only the sixth minute to settle the Champions League tie.

Nani endured an unconvincing start to life in the Barclays Premier League, but has come to be viewed as a key figure. "He's got better, that's a great thing, and he's added a goal ratio to his game which is important,'' Ferguson said. "He's got great feet, courage, he's quick - a lot of things are coming together for him.''

Reflecting on the narrow margin of victory, the Scot continued: "We could have pushed on better but I think we did the job well in terms of the intensity of our game.

"We controlled the whole match, I think they had one shot with two minutes to go or something like that, but we could have done better in terms of last-third play. I didn't think they could score, our defensive concentration was very good.''

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