London, Apr. 6: Manchester United coach-cum-manager Sir Alex Ferguson has denied allegations of a training-ground bust-up between himself and Wayne Rooney as "absolute nonsense".

The affair is a further unwanted distraction following reports yesterday that a deal to take Cristiano Ronaldo from United to Real Madrid this summer is in place.

After England''s 4–0 victory over Slovakia last weekend, in which Rooney scored twice, Mark Lawrenson, the former Liverpool defender who is now a BBC summariser, said: "Everybody knows he had a massive row with Fergie after the Liverpool game and was then left out against Fulham. It is an ongoing problem, but if anyone can deal with it, it is Sir Alex."

When asked if he was aware of Lawrenson''s comments, the Guardian quoted Ferguson as saying there was no row.

"I was made aware of it. Absolute nonsense. I don''t know where that came from, but the revealing part of it is ''everybody knows'', but I didn''t know and I was in there,” he said. (ANI)