WAYNE ROONEY wrote his transfer request in the Everton canteen to force through his Manchester United transfer aged 18.
The former England captain, now 34, was desperate to make the switch from Goodison Park to Old Trafford in the summer of 2004.
Wayne Rooney wrote out his transfer request to force through his Manchester United move in the Everton canteenCredit: PA:Empics Sport
But after making his intentions clear to then-Toffees boss David Moyes, the Scot told teenage Rooney he had to put the formal request in writing.
Rooney told Amazon Prime Video: “I’m an ambitious person and I want to win trophies. I knew staying at Everton for another year, another two years… that wasn’t going to happen.
“I felt I was good enough to go into the Manchester United team so I was ready to move. To be honest I was ready to move the year before but that didn’t happen.
“I went in to David Moyes and told him this is the situation and in fairness Everton needed the money.
“I think deep down he knew so I went in and told him I wanted to leave and he said, ‘If you want to leave, you’ll have to put a transfer request in.’
“So I said ‘okay’ and went out into the canteen, wrote a transfer request out on a piece of paper and said, ‘Here you go.’
“When I got in the Everton first team, I knew I was the best player.
“That’s not being cocky… plus we had a very bad team at the time. I knew I was the best player and I knew before long I would have to move on if I wanted to win trophies.”
To the fury of the Everton fans, Rooney – who famously celebrated with a ‘Once a Blue, Always a Blue’ t-shirt – completed a then-teenage-record £30million move soon after.
He returned to Goodison 13 years later as the Red Devils’ all-time top goalscorer with 253 goals and 12 major trophies, including five Premier Leagues and the Champions League in 2008.
Rooney spent one season back at Everton before two seasons at MLS side DC United.
Now, he has returned to England where he has joined Derby as a player-coach and will be eligible to play in the New Year.
United spent a then-teenage record £30m to sign Rooney, who went on to become their record goalscorerCredit: EPA
Kai Rooney scores amazing free-kick just like Man Utd legend dad Wayne before celebrating with outrageous flip
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
