WAYNE ROONEY ADMITS he questioned whether he deserved to lift the EFL Cup and Europa League, having expected to leave Manchester United from November last year.
Everton brought Rooney back to Goodison Park on Sunday on a two-year deal, ending the former United captain’s 13-year Old Trafford career.
Rooney leaves United as their record scorer with 253 goals in 559 appearances, having won five Premier League titles and the Champions League among 12 major trophies.
The last of those honours came in Rooney’s final United appearance as Ajax were beaten in the Europa League final, but the forward says he already knew he would be leaving when celebrating that triumph, having been restricted to 15 league starts during his last term.
Rooney explained: “It was just a frustrating time. The hardest thing was lifting the two trophies – the League Cup and the Europa League.
You don’t feel like you (deserve it) because you haven’t been part of the game. That was hard to do; you’re naturally happy because you have won but you don’t celebrate it as much.
“It is just frustrating if you are not playing. The lads who play were having two-day recovery sessions while all the lads who were on the bench and not in the squad were training together, so you’re not really training with the first team.
“It was around November I knew (an exit was likely).
I spoke to Jose in January to see what his opinions were and he always said he wanted me to stay and help the team until the end of the season. I did that.
“I helped in the games he put me in but I knew I had to leave to move forward for my career. It was a sad moment because I had been at the club for 13 years but I had to think of my career as well.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
John Terry take note
@Now or Never: I’d very much doubt he reads the 42
@Jamie: see you got your notifications fixed Alan
@Johnny Bravo: have you been waiting to post that since Sunday night?
@Jamie: pay no attention. He will switch to gis Thommo account now. His alter ego!
@The Jacket: I don’t know what he’d comment about if it wasn’t for me or you
@Jamie: You’ll find he interacts with himself. “Thommo come in Thommo , operation Johnny bla bla here.” In reality he is about 17 unemployed and lives in mammys box room !
“I helped in the games he put me in” …. a broad, inaccurate statement
@Jah: lol , I guesshe has to put the brave face on- even he must know that he was shockingly poor in reality all last season ( and indeed hasn’t made a man of the match performance in a very long time) – Mourinho handled him quite well in the circumstances – I think if Rooney rewatched his last few games in a United shirt he’d have to recognise how poor he has become – the pressure to perform in Everton where he is being paid up to 3 times more than team mates is going to kick in fairly quickly – he will be playing against the same premier league opposition with weaker team mates around him and the sentiment of a return will wash away after about one game – jury is out of this is a good move for Everton and Koeman
@Dave Hammond: to be fair Everton finished one place below Utd (playing the same PL teams) and have strengthen a lot over the summer. Not saying they are better than Utd but not a massive massive difference in the standard of players. Plus he’ll be playing a lot more Everton so much better chance to get some form back! That or you’re right and he’s finished!!
Still went up to lift the trophies, didn’t he! John Terry MKII
@Eoin McCarthy: well he did come on in the europa final unlike terry when he was suspended for the cl final.
Did he feel underserving of his massive pay cheque each week too ?
@GRONG: possibly! He did ask about leaving in January and he has moved to Everton taking a massive pay cut when he could have just stayed at Utd sitting on his £300k a week so I would say not overly motivated by money
He won’t be having that problem with Everton anyway…
Treated dispicably by the PIG. Class act. Can see him scoring for fun at Everton. Just not in the derby !
@The Jacket: is that the best you have Marcus ?? Zzzzz #slipping
Lou