Manchester United manager David Moyes denies rift with want-away striker Wayne Rooney

David Moyes has denied there is a rift between him and Wayne Rooney and said the Manchester United forward is not for sale despite a breakdown in relations between the striker and the club. The manager also said United are "closer" to making signings.

Speaking after United beat Wigan Athletic 2-0 at Wembley to win the Community Shield, Moyes was asked how Rooney's shoulder injury prevented him being available while he is set to feature in England's friendly with Scotland at the same venue on Wednesday.

"I don't see why you think that's confusing. It's a big game for Scotland. You don't think I'm going to send England a fit player, do you?" the Scot joked. "I spoke to Roy [Hodgson, England manager] for probably two hours at different times. Roy knows the situation. Wayne has trained and some of you might not like hearing this but I didn't fall out with Wayne. Some of you wrote untruths. Anybody who wrote anything else is misleading their readers. He trained with the reserves [on Thursday and Friday] because it was his asking.

"He couldn't have contact because it was a shoulder injury. It was as a floating player which means he doesn't play for either team, just in case any of you are unclear what I mean about that. He played as a floating player so that he didn't get injured. Anyone who wrote anything else was mistaken.

"I'm quite enjoying talking about Wayne because I'm hearing so many of you getting it wrong and I know most of you. I think you're a bit cleverer than that but some of you aren't acting that way."

After underlining that Rooney was not for sale despite Chelsea's plan to return with a third bid after those for £20m and £25m were rejected, Moyes said: "I want him to join up with England. He trained with us yesterday. He's not ready and you'll probably see that during the game. He'll probably play a chunk of the game but he's had no football apart from 45 minutes against Real Betis in a friendly where he's hurt his shoulder. Apart from that he's got no match action.

"So you wouldn't expect someone in that condition to be playing for a long period. He's coming back, he's breaking himself back into the team and it will be great for Manchester United because hopefully he'll get some game time. He wasn't ready for today. But he's got a chance of being ready for Wednesday."

Moyes is yet to make a major signing since succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson this summer. "We're getting closer to signings," he said. "We're moving forward but the deadline is getting closer as well. Hopefully we are. If we don't I'm happy to go with what we've got. We had a lot of young English players today. We gave them the opportunity. It's always something that gets mentioned, giving young British players a chance, and there's quite a lot doing that at Manchester United."