Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney wants to leave the club, soccer boss Sir Alex Ferguson said Tuesday.

Sir Alex told a scheduled news conference ahead of Manchester United’s UEFA Champions League game Wednesday against Turkey’s Bursaspor, “I had a meeting with him [Wayne] and he intimated he wanted away. I was terribly disappointed and I just can’t understand it.”

Sir Alex continued: “We are as bemused as anyone can be. We can’t quite understand why he would want to leave. I feel that we still have to keep the door open for him — especially as he’s such a good player.

“We have done nothing but help him since he came to this club, that is why this is such a mystery to us. We’ve helped him with his private life and other matters,” Ferguson said.

Earlier, the manager said Rooney would not play in Wednesday’s match because of an ankle injury. A spokesman for the club also said Rooney was taken off on a stretcher at the end of training on Tuesday.

In an interview with MUTV — the club’s own official TV station — Ferguson said: “David [Gill, chief executive] in the early part of the summer had opened talks with his agent and that was to be continued after the World Cup.”

He continued: “I was in the office on August 14 and David phoned me to say he wasn’t signing a contract. I was dumbfounded. Only months before he was saying he was at the greatest club in the world. I asked to have a meeting with the boy. He reiterated what his agent said, that he wanted to go.”

The striker’s every move has come under scrutiny this season following allegations about his private life and a slump in form following a dismal World Cup performance for England at the World Cup in South Africa.

Ferguson left Rooney out of his starting eleven for last Saturday’s 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion, just days after the striker played 90 minutes for his country and publicly contradicted his manager’s assertion that he was suffering from an ankle injury.

Rooney’s departure from United was expected to trigger interest at the few elite European clubs who could find the funds to secure his services, with Spanish clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona and England’s Chelsea and Manchester City all mooted.