ROO STILL IN DARK OVER AXE
Baffled Wayne claims he’s still Good enough
WAYNE ROONEY claims he still doesn’t know why Everton dumped him.
The former England captain makes his MLS debut for DC United at home to Vancouver Whitecaps in the early hours of tomorrow.
Rooney, 32, thought he had done enough to be in new Everton boss Marco Silva’s plans after finishing last season as the club’s 11-goal top scorer.
And after heading over the Atlantic on a three-and-a-half year £10m deal, Rooney claims he was still good enough to stay at Goodison Park.
“Everton made it clear towards the end of the season that they’d be happy for me to leave,” he said.
Decision
“For whatever reason, I still don’t know. I felt I was doing okay, I was top goalscorer and was playing most of the season from midfield.
“But that’s football. And that gave me a decision to make, and I made this decision.
“I said, ‘Listen, I’m not a kid, and if this is what you want, tell me. If you want me to stay, tell me,’ and we talked about it.
“As an 18, 20, 21-year-old, obviously I wouldn’t have been able to handle that the way I have now. They told me and I said, ‘Fair enough.’ I’m not going to disrespect the football club.”
Manchester United’s all-time leading goalscorer added: “I don’t think it’s a chip on my shoulder, I think it’s a determination to win and to play.
“Obviously at Manchester United, that wasn’t happening as much as I would have liked, and I quite easily could have stayed there with two years left on my contract and picked up the wages and been happy with that, and that’s it.
“But I wanted to play, went back to Everton and had a year there.”
Rooney completed his US move as England were charging to the World Cup semi-finals in Russia.
He quit international football last summer as the leading scorer in
Three Lions’ history.
And he now believes Premier League managers must show more faith in young English players to help the national side build on their best World Cup since 1990.
“Homegrown players get a chance and they stay in the team, particularly in Germany, Italy,” Rooney told ESPN.
“In England they have a lot of foreign coaches who buy players in, players that they maybe know and play them all the time.
“For Manchester United, Jesse Lingard got the opportunity to go and play in every game at the World Cup for England.
“So I think a little bit more faith in young English players will help the national team.”