LONDON (AP) — Wayne Rooney ended a week of intense speculation about his future yesterday by signing a new five-year contract with Manchester United, saying “this is where I belong.”

Only days after announcing he was prepared to leave the club he joined in 2004 because of its lack of ambition in the transfer market, the England striker said he was persuaded to stay following talks with manager Alex Ferguson and the club’s American owners, the Glazer family.

“I’m signing a new deal in the absolute belief that the management, coaching staff, board and owners are totally committed to making sure United maintains its proud winning history, which is the reason I joined the club in the first place,” Rooney said in a statement.

Rooney’s contract extension ties him to United until June 2015. Press Association Sport reported his new salary will be in the region of £150,000 (US$235,000) a week, a rise of £60,000 a week on his previous wage, making him the highest-paid player in the club’s history and among the dozen elite earners in the Premier League.

One of the most turbulent weeks in United’s recent history began when a “shocked” and “bemused” Ferguson revealed at a news conference Tuesday that Rooney, the team’s talismanic figure and most marketable asset since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid last year, wanted to leave United.

Rooney responded Wednesday by releasing a statement, detailing his concerns with United’s squad strength and claiming he had not been given any assurances by chief executive David Gill about the club’s future.

But after a series of talks over Thursday and yesterday involving Rooney, his representative Paul Stretford and the club’s hierarchy, the striker went back on his decision. Ferguson, Rooney stressed, was key to his change of heart.

“In the last couple of days, I’ve talked to the manager and the owners and they’ve convinced me this is where I belong,” Rooney added. “I said… the manager’s a genius and it’s his belief and support that have convinced me to stay.

“I felt I had to get my point across and we finally came to an agreement.”

Ferguson signed Rooney six years ago for £26.5 million (then more than $40 million) and has seen the player establish himself as one of the world’s leading strikers. Rooney helped the club to Premier League titles in 2007, ’08 and ’09, and was a member of the side that won the Champions League in 2008. He was named England’s Footballer of the Year last season after scoring 34 goals in all competitions.