Everton manager David Moyes believes Wayne Rooney may have been left out of Manchester United’s Premier League game against Everton as punishment for inviting a wave of adverse publicity surrounding his private life, it was reported Monday.

Sir Alex Ferguson said he omitted Rooney from his squad because the United manager did not want to subject the England forward to “terrible abuse” against his former club at Goodison Park on Saturday in the wake of allegations that he cheated on his wife, Coleen, with two prostitutes.

But Moyes wondered whether Ferguson had opted to make an example of Rooney in an attempt to remind the United squad that no player is beyond reproach.

Asked if he thought Ferguson’s suggestion that he didn’t want to subject Rooney to potential insults from the crowd was a worrying development for football, Moyes wasn’t buying it.

“Maybe he was making sure everybody realizes that if you play for Manchester United, you have to conduct yourself in a manner and our football club doesn’t really care who you are,” Moyes said. “I’m sure the manager did what he thought was right.”

Rooney was ordered to return home on Saturday morning after being told that he would not be playing against Everton, despite training as normal on Friday and spending the night with the United squad at the Lowry Hotel in Salford, the scene of his alleged liaison with two escort girls.

Ferguson insisted Rooney will play against Rangers in United’s opening Champions League Group C game at Old Trafford Tuesday, but further unsavory disclosures in the tabloid newspapers over the weekend will have done little to improve the player’s state of mind as he fights to save his marriage.

There is also the added concern of Coleen’s disabled 12-year-old sister, Rosie, who was reported to be seriously ill in the hospital at the weekend.