After four weeks of intense speculation, England will finally discover today whether Wayne Rooney has any chance of going to the World Cup.

The 20-year-old striker spent just under half an hour at the BUPA medical clinic at Whalley Range having the scan which is set to determine the likelihood of him making Sven-Goran Eriksson's 23-man squad.

After evading the mass of cameras before mid-day, and doing the same as he sped back out again, Manchester United will now take charge of assessing the scan results before releasing the verdict, which, barring leaks, is expected to come at some stage before lunchtime.

With Eriksson also supposedly in the dark, it is set to be a big day for the England coach as well, with the future of his star striker in the balance.

Eriksson has vowed to select the £27m forward in his squad if there is any chance at all of him being fit, even if it is only for the latter knock-out stages.

However, that view is countered by the opinion of Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who is adamant it would be an act of folly to take Rooney to Germany if he was less than 100 per cent fit.

Ferguson's fear is that once in Germany, Eriksson could be pressurised into playing Rooney, particularly if early results go against England.

The Red Devils manager has vowed he will do everything in his power to ensure Rooney makes the England squad but the Scot also believes given the striker only suffered the injury at Chelsea late last month, his chances of being fully fit are non-existent.

l Crystal Palace have accepted an £8.5m bid from Bolton for striker Andrew Johnson. Wanderers are the second club to offer the amount demanded by Simon Jordan after the Palace chairman accepted a similar proposition from Wigan.

Johnson, who is on standby for England's World Cup squad, is due to travel to the north-west for talks with Wigan today.

''Crystal Palace have accepted another bid for Andrew Johnson, after Bolton Wanderers offered £8.5m for the player on Thursday,'' read a statement on Palace's official website, www.cpfc.co.uk.

''The offer from Sam Allardyce's side matches the one made on Wednesday by Wigan Athletic, and therefore the 25-year-old now has permission to speak to both Lancashire clubs.''

l Arsene Wenger continued to plan for the future yesterday after veteran midfielder Robert Pires ended his six-year association with Arsenal to join Spanish side Villarreal on a two-year deal.

The skilled French winger was always likely to seek pastures new when his contract expired this summer, after it became clear the Barclays Premiership club were unlikely to discard their policy of only offering 12-month extensions to senior members of the squad.

Although long-serving Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp had elected to stay at Highbury on such terms, the 37-year-old eventually retiring at the end of the season, Pires, who turns 33 in October, wanted the security of a longer-term deal.

Talks with Villarreal - beaten by Arsenal in the semi-finals of the Champions League - had been on-going for sometime.

The arrival of Czech Republic international Tomas Rosicky, 25, means Wenger already has earmarked a potential replacement in his side, which had been graced for so long by the French World Cup winner.