WAYNE’S KAI HIGH
Everton return delights his son
WAYNE ROONEY had to keep his dream return to Everton a secret from son Kai for fear he’d let it slip in the schoolyard.
The England striker revealed he even kept his parents in the dark for fear of the news leaking out.
But Rooney is now the most popular dad in the blue half of Merseyside, with seven-year-old Kai, the eldest of his three boys and a season-ticket holder at Goodison, over the moon about the Everton homecoming.
“I think it’s the happiest he has ever been,” said Rooney following his Manchester United exit. “I’ve known for the last couple of weeks but I had kept it quiet from him.
“I kept it quiet from my mum and dad because I knew they wouldn’t be able to hold it in. So I couldn’t tell them and I didn’t tell Kai because he was
going to school and I didn’t want him speaking to his mates.
“It was literally once everything was agreed and the paperwork was coming through that I told Kai. He was made up.
“It will be great for him. I’ve brought him back here for a few games.
“He jumped on me, he was absolutely made up.
“Kai had a season ticket here last season and was coming with some of his cousins. To come back and watch his dad play... he’ll be buzzing.”
Rooney, 31, returns to Everton after 13 years and a dozen trophies at Old Trafford but he insists he is not coming back to wind down his career.
He also turned down more lucrative offers elsewhere to come back to the club he left as a teenager.
He said: “Of course there was more money out there if you had searched long enough for it, but it’s a decision which I made basing it on the fact that I want to play football and to go somewhere which is showing ambition to move forward.
“I believe Everton will know that. I know there will be more pressure coming back to Everton than going to any other club but I’m ready for the challenge to make us better than we have been.
“I always play like I have a point to prove.
“I’m not coming back into a retirement home. I want to play and I want to win.”