Wayne Rooney rejected Manchester United on two occasions in order to remain an Everton player, according to Sir Alex Ferguson.
The former Manchester United manager said Rooney was recommended to him by Jim Ryan, a youth director at Old Trafford at the time.
The legendary Scot told ITV:
“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.
“The boy wanted to stay at Everton – at that time he had a love of the club and he’s an Everton fan.”
Ferguson revealed he tried to entice Rooney to Old Trafford again when he was a little bit older, but was rebuffed in his approach.
“When he got to 16 we tried again. We approached him to join as a 16-year-old, but once again he refused.”
Rooney scored 17 goals in 77 appearances for his beloved Blues but he eventually moved to Manchester United in 2004 in a deal worth £27million.
The 29-year-old has gone on to win both domestic and European titles with United, and is their highest-paid-player with a reported wage of £300,000-a-week.
Rooney is also on the cusp of breaking Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring record for England and has captained his national side, as well as Manchester United, for over a year.
The Croxteth-born striker did pull on the blue shirt once again in August when he made a substitute appearance in Duncan Ferguson’s testimonial, the towering Scot is a childhood hero of Rooney.
