Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, in no uncertain terms, said Wayne Rooney is going absolutely nowhere.
Speculation has been rife that the United forward could be on his way out of Old Trafford, after being left out of the starting lineup against Real Madrid.
Widespread reports suggested the relationship between the player and manager had soured, leading to United putting Rooney up for sale in the summer.
However, Ferguson, who did not appear for the post-match press conference against Real Madrid, rubbished those reports, terming them as "nonsense."
"The Wayne Rooney nonsense first? Or do you want to talk sense? The issue you're all going on about is rubbish," Ferguson told reporters ahead of the F.A. Cup quarterfinal against Chelsea.
"There's absolutely no issue between Wayne Rooney and I. The suggestion we don't talk on the training ground is nonsense."
Ferguson then went on to guarantee that Rooney would still be a United player next season. "The decision to not play him was purely tactical and he understood that.
"And I think I was right. We don't always get it right but I think we did get it right.
"Danny Welbeck is the best player we have in terms of operating in a double role. We had to choke Xabi Alonso's ability to control the game, which Danny did, and that took away Alonso's control of the game and his ability to go further forward and be an attacking player.
"We don't always get it right but we definitely did on Tuesday.
"I left out Shinji Kagawa after he scored a hat-trick. I thought I would get more stick for that.
"Wayne will be here next year. You have my word on that."
The United manager also admitted the Real loss, mainly due to a poor decision by the referee in brandishing a straight red card to Nani, was a difficult pill to swallow.
"It's hard to keep your faith when you see what's happened the last few years," Ferguson added. "It's the third time we've been knocked out because of that.
"It's not easy to take but we're Manchester United and we have to get on with it. We now have an important issue of an F.A. Cup tie on Sunday.
"My job is to galvanise the troops, who were fantastic on Tuesday. So were the fans. We owe them a good performance."
