Premier League: Chelsea have plan B for Rooney transfer

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho says he has a backup plan in case he won't be able to sign Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney. United have rejected two bids so far, the latest was £25m plus add-ons, from Chelsea for the England international. Mourinho said in July that Rooney is his only transfer target. "We have plans B and C. Don't ask me names. It's difficult to speak about players from other clubs," Mourinho said. "We have the conditions to try to improve our team by bringing in one more player and we are going to try that till the end." Rooney is understood to be wanting to leave Old Trafford, even though United manager David Moyes has repeatedly stated that the striker is not for sale. Mourinho says Chelsea will probably make another bid for Rooney but admits United can only sell him if they want to, just as Chelsea rejected Barcelona's attempts to sign David Luiz. "You try, because nobody forbids you to try," Mourinho said. "When you think that you'd like to have one player and the market is open and the official bids are not forbidden, official bids are always accepted in an ethical way. Of course, the player's owners can do exactly what we did in relation to David Luiz and Barcelona." Ahead of Wednesday's Premier League match against Aston Villa Mourinho also said he will carefully choose in which games to employ midfielder Frank Lampard in this season. "He is not 25 anymore," the Chelsea boss said. "The crazy Lamps that wants to play every minute of a Carling Cup match against a team from the Championship, the crazy Frank that wants to play and beat the record of appearances and play every minute every match, is not here anymore. Now it's about keeping his performance high for the most time we can, for the most seasons we can." Frank Lampard is 6/5 to score against Aston Villa at Bet365 while new signing Andre Schurrle is 9/2 to score the first goal of the match.