Daily Mirror

Yanks a lot past-it Roo

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WAYNE ROONEY’S reaction to being hauled off less than an hour into the Merseyside derby wasn’t half as telling as the one from his manager.

When Sam Allardyce agreed with a reporter who pointed out that Rooney now struggles against the best teams, it was a damning indictment.

Everton can’t afford to pay £150,000 a week to someone who is only considered for bit parts against teams who are worse than them. Especially when cold statistics back up his ineffectiv­eness in midfield against the best.

The chances of Allardyce being at Goodison next season may be low, but if the man who said 19 months ago that Rooney can play where he wants for England thinks he’s finished at the highest level, what will a new manager with a brief to ruthlessly transform Everton think?

At the start of next season Rooney will be a couple of months off his 33rd birthday after 16 hard years of top-flight football.

He might be tempted to think before then about heading in the same direction as his former Manchester United team-mates David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimovi­c – and cashing in on his final years in America.

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