The striker almost stayed at Everton for good
Former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that Wayne Rooney rejected to join the club twice as a youngster, due to his love for Everton.
The Scotsman admitted that Rooney snubbed a move to Old Trafford to stay with his beloved Toffees, before eventually leaving Goodison Park for the Red Devils in 2004.
Rooney was recommended to Sir Alex by Jimmy Ryan, who was the United director of youth at the time.
This has all been exposed after the 29-year old Rooney recently pulled on an Everton jersey to play in Duncan Ferguson’s testimonial against Villarreal.
‘the boy is Wayne Rooney’
When speaking to ITV, Ferguson said: “Jim Ryan came back from one of our academy games at the 14 years level and he said ‘I’ve seen a player’ and he said the boy is Wayne Rooney and we tried to get him because there’s a window at the end of the season – it’s a one-week window – where we can entice or approach a boy from another club to come join your academy, but it failed.”
He also added: “The boy wanted to stay at Everton at that time, he had a love of the club and he’s an Everton fan.”
“When he got to 16 we tried again. We approached him to join as a 16-year-old, but once again he refused,” admitted Fergie.
Rooney eventually joined United for £25.6 million in 2004 and has gone on to score over 200 goals for the Premier League giants.
He is also the captain of the England national team and is on the verge of breaking Sir Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring record for his country.
If Rooney scores two or more goals in their Euro 2016 qualifier away at San Marino tonight, he will be the all time top goalscorer for the Three Lions.
