David Moyes told Wayne Rooney that he’d “gone soft” when the pair met at the start of David Moyes’ reign.
Rooney signed a new £300,000 a week deal at Old Trafford, with the staggering deal keeping the Liverpudlian at Old Trafford unril the summer of 2019.
The striker had become somewhat disillusioned in the final few months of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign at the club, with the pair in a real public falling out, which sparked months of transfer speculation.
However, Moyes has recently revealed what he said to the unsure striker…
“I remember when he came to see me. He came up to my house. I said to him: ‘If you ask me what’s missing – I think you’ve gone a bit soft.’ I thought he hadn’t been the hard-working, aggressive player he was. But now in games people are saying: ‘Look at the effort he’s putting in.’ It’s his work-rate, not just for himself but for the team. He’s become an all-round team player who is also a technically gifted footballer.
“I said to Wayne that I wanted him to stay. Before I’d actually come in here, I’d met Wayne privately a couple of times, to talk about his situation, to try to understand. So when I got in [on 1 July] I knew where Wayne was. The most important thing for Wayne was to show everyone what he really was and I think deep down he knows he didn’t play as well as he could have done at times. I needed to try to get him back to that level. But in the end I just said to him: ‘Wayne, go and get on with it.’ His training was first-class, he came back in great shape, you could really see the hunger back in his eyes again.”
The striker looked set to leave Old Trafford in the summer, as Jose Mourinho was swooping for his chosen man.
It was prehaps interesting how the Rooney/ Moyes relationship would work, with Rooney making comments about Moyes, when the striker left Everton in 2004.
Rooney has since played 298 goals at Old Trafford, scoring 150 goals for the Old Trafford club.
Moyes went onto say….
“I think that was behind it,”To be a legend at Manchester United it is something where you are associated with this club for the rest of your life. The one thing I’ve noticed since I’ve been here is no one wants to leave Manchester United very quickly.
“For Wayne, he’s recognised [how] people like Bobby Charlton, George Best – the way those big stars are seen here. Wayne’s next thing is that we have to keep challenging him to get those goals, make those big targets.”
Moyes believes Rooney can improve. “All we’ve done is say to Wayne you need to get back to where we think you were,” said the Scot. “There is more to come as an all-round team player, leader, person.”
Rooney had become somewhat of a scapegoat at Old Trafford over the last few months, however, United supporters will be pleased their long serving striker has put pen to paper.
By Ben Reardon
@BenReardon1
