Wayne Rooney is on the brink of making a sensational return to his former club, Everton, and The Sun reports he will be withdrawn from Manchester United’s squad for their pre-season tour to America.

Rooney exploded onto the national consciousness with two seasons at Goodison Park before joining United in a £20 million transfer just weeks after scoring four goals at Euro 2004.

 But his career is set to come full circle, with The Sun reporting that United have granted Rooney, 31, a free transfer despite having two years left on his current contract, with Everton set to take on his wages of £250,000 per week.

Rooney had his testimonial against Everton back in January, and after scoring 253 goals in 559 appearances across 13 seasons for United, a club record, the player who once clutched a t-shirt reading, 'once a blue, always a blue' is going home to Merseyside.

The Sun reports:

 Rooney was appointed United captain by Louis van Gaal in 2014 but a precipitous decline in his performances left him a spare part last season, appearing for only the final few minutes of the Europa League final in May.

Jose Mourinho progressively phased him out over the course of the season and, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic also departing the club this summer, United have lost two big names from their attack.

Everton, by contrast, have invested heavily in their squad this summer. Rooney will not cost a penny in terms of transfer fees but Everton have already parted with more than £90m this summer.

Michael Keane arrived from Burnley for a club-record fee of £30m, with Jordan Pickford costing up to £30m from Sunderland, Davy Klaassen £24m from Ajax and Sandro Ramirez £5m from Malaga.

The Sun also says that the club are set to sign Olivier Giroud for £20m from Arsenal in a further move to strengthen their attack.