WAYNE ROONEY HAS turned down offers to move into management because he wants to focus on his playing career, but he is eager to become a coach after his retirement.
Rooney — the all-time leading scorer for both Manchester United and England — has excelled in Major League Soccer since leaving Everton to join DC United in 2018.
The 33-year-old scored with a sensational strike from inside his own half on Wednesday, helping DC, who sit third in MLS’ Eastern Conference, to a 1-0 win over Orlando City. It was his 11th goal of the season in all competitions.
Rooney’s former England colleagues Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard took their first steps into first-team management last season, with the latter now set to take over at Chelsea.
John Terry is an assistant at Aston Villa and Scott Parker is in charge of Fulham.
Asked if he would like to take up a managerial job in the future, Rooney told Sky Sports: “Yes, of course.
“I’m taking the steps to get my badges completed and when I finish playing I’ll see what opportunities come up.
“There’s already offers which have been made, but at the minute I’m still a player and I want to enjoy playing, and then I’ll see which offers are right when I do finish.
There’s an opportunity for me to go into management straight away, and when I do hang my boots up, that decision will be made on what the ambition of the club is first of all, and what my ambitions are and what’s right for both myself and that particular team.
And Rooney believes that his former team-mates taking up high-profile managerial roles will only benefit him once he decides to bring his playing career to an end.
“I think it’s brilliant for Frank, but also for any young English players, or players who’ve just finished playing, to see big teams like Chelsea giving Frank an opportunity to prove himself,” Rooney said.
“I’m sure at some stage over the next few years Steven [Gerrard] will get that opportunity at Liverpool.
“Scott Parker, John Terry at Aston Villa – it’s great for myself, who wants to go into management, to see these lads getting opportunities and it gives you hope that it will happen for you.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
Somewhere Phil Kearns is having an absolute meltdown about the unfairness of it all…
Great to see Jaguares win, hope they can follow up next week.
Argentina are 50-1 for the world cup! Insane odds given how well the Jaguares are going. Plus they always underperform in the Rugby Championship cos of the distances they have to travel. Given Ireland are 5-1, this seems pretty long for the Argies.
@Farzad Saadat: Pool C will see a big faller at the 1st. France, England and Argentina will be interesting. You’d think France could be the one to miss out but they’ve been ruthless with their squad selection, brought in O’Gara and you only have to look at 2011 when they had no chance and made the final. England could find themselves in a similar fate to 2015, after a great start under Jones they had an awful run of loses. Argentina always peak at world cup time. Exciting!
@RabidHorizon: Did they bring in O’Gara in the end? I thought that was all just rumours in the end
@Eddie Hekenui: No they didn’t in the end
@Ciaran Twomey: Cheers. Thought I might’ve missed the news he’d taken a role with them.
@Farzad Saadat: Madness considering they have knocked us out of 3 of the last 5 RWCs.
@RabidHorizon: they didn’t bring in O’Gara
@RabidHorizon: France brought in much better coaches than O’Gara, they should get a real boost – Labit and Galthié – they picked the right squad, too. I think England could be the team to miss out..
Brumbies should never have made it to a semi. Awful team but get lucky because of how weak their conference is.
@#JUSTICE4NOEL:
Aussie Rugby is in a bad place right now.
Unreal for the sport!! Makes the competition a whole lot more competitive! Will be interesting to see how far Argentina go at the WC.
@Aaron Tynan: Further than us, I fear.
@Bluepoolroad: draw kinder to them I think than Ireland – SA or NZ is a tough 1/4
The second semi just finished. Cracking game. 30-26 crusaders.
That jaguares kit is lovely
@Eoin Murphy: i wonder where one could buy it?
@Tony Stack: https://www.elverys.ie/elverys/en/search?text=jaguares
Great. When Argentina played in the November series against Ireland. Which i went too. It was the Jaguares team.
Jags play flat and pass wonderfully, it’s great to watch. The crowd was brilliant too.
I think the Crusaders will have too much for them at home, but I’d love to see the Jags win it.
Where’s the final taking place?
@Bluepoolroad: crusaders ground
@Bluepoolroad: Crusaders home stadium in Christchurch, super rugby needs to start playing them in neutral venues, even if it’s in the higher ranked clubs home country. Home stadium advantage is a bit much for a final.
@Con Al: The problem is distances. Say Cape Town was this year’s venue, how many Jaguares and Crusaders supporters are going to make it at a weeks notice? Stadium would be near empty. At least in the current system, one set of supporters see the final and home advantage is based on merit earned during the season. Not perfect, but understandable system