Manchester United Transfer News: Talk of Moves Least of Fergie's Worries

With all the distractions swirling about Old Trafford these days, it's a wonder Sir Alex Ferguson is able to keep his wits about him for more than a few minutes at a time.

His Manchester United side is coming off back-to-back losses to Blackburn and Newcastle, seemingly half of his first-team squad remains out of action with any number of injuries, Tottenham and Chelsea are gaining in the English Premier League table and, most of all, he has a massive FA Cup clash with Manchester City on Sunday to worry about.

So you could excuse Fergie if he has neither the time nor the patience to concern himself with silly rumors about Wayne Rooney wanting out and Frank Lampard possibly coming aboard.

Both Wazza and the club wasted little time debunking gossip that was set to publish in The Independent. 

The tabloid claims that Rooney wanted out of United after Fergie fined and benched his star striker for poor performance in training following Rooney's drunken night on the town after the Red Devils' 5-0 Boxing Day stomping of Wigan.

The club had this to say about the situation:

"

We have not seen the detail but can assure all United fans that the Manager and the Club are committed to Wayne Rooney and Wayne is committed to the Manager and the Club.

The player and the Manager have always had and retain the utmost respect for each other and look forward to working together in the coming seasons.

Any suggestion that Manchester United and Wayne Rooney are to part company is complete nonsense.

"

Rooney backed up Man U's position via Twitter:

Meanwhile, Fergie had to fend off another set of vultures, namely those from The Daily Mail, who'd suggested that Frank Lampard was on United's January transfer wish list.

The 33-year-old Lampard has seemingly fallen out of favor at Chelsea this season, with first-year boss Andre Villas-Boas opting for a younger, more Iberian midfield combination at Stamford Bridge.

In typical Fergie fashion, the United boss outright dismissed any notion of Lampard leaving the Blues, much less joining the Red Devils, saying:

"

"Do you really think Chelsea would sell to United in January? There's no foundation in that. Chelsea want to do something in the second half of the season so they want to keep their best players."

"

With all of the challenges currently loaded onto Fergie's plate, not to mention the haphazard ownership of the Glazer family under which he's operating, one can hardly blame the legendary manager for being curt with the media.

If you were bombarded with unfounded rumors and wild speculation to no end, you'd probably snap back, too.

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