LONDON - Sir Alex Ferguson's latest snub to Wayne Rooney has fuelled fresh speculation that the Manchester United superstar could be heading for the Old Trafford exit.

Ferguson left Rooney on the bench for Saturday's Premier League clash with West Bromwich Albion, where the Red Devils squandered a two-goal lead as the Baggies fought back to snatch a 2-2 draw.

Ferguson did not comment about the decision to omit Rooney, a move that followed speculation of a rift after the striker last week contradicted the United boss's claims he was injured by stating he was fully fit.

It came after an earlier decision to drop Rooney for his return to Everton in September, which followed lurid tabloid revelations about the 24-year-old England international's private life.

The Sunday Mirror reported yesterday that relations between Ferguson and Rooney had broken down and that the United boss would seek to sell their prized asset in the January transfer window, with Real Madrid seen as the front-runners.

Club insiders quoted by the newspaper said Rooney was slowly being "frozen out", comparing the present situation to the circumstances leading up to the departure of David Beckham from United to Real Madrid in 2003.

Negotiations over an extension to Rooney's £100000 (R1,08million) a week contract, which has only another 18 months to run, have also stalled, the paper reported.

Other commentators, meanwhile said Rooney was playing with fire by contradicting Ferguson's claims he was nursing an ankle injury.

"At best it was naive for him not to see that contradicting Ferguson would be seen as provocative," Paul Hayward wrote in The Observer.

The Sunday Mirror said Rooney's decision to contradict Ferguson could prove fatal as the manager had been trying to shield the striker from the storm caused by allegations that he cheated on his pregnant wife with prostitutes.

The Observer, meanwhile, noted that Ferguson had not been afraid of off-loading iconic Manchester United players in the past, selling Beckham, Ruud van Nistel- rooy and Roy Keane.