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Football

17th May 2022

Jamie Vardy says ‘Wayne Rooney is talking nonsense’ about telling his wife to ‘calm down’

SportsJOE

Jamie Vardy also suggested his former teammate ‘must be confused’

Jamie Vardy has claimed that Wayne Rooney is “talking nonsense” after Rooney claimed he had an “awkward” conversation with Vardy about his wife’s behaviour in 2016.

Earlier on Tuesday, Rooney took the stand in the libel case between his wife Coleen and Vardy’s wife Rebekah. He alleged he was asked to have a conversation with his teammate Jamie about his wife’s behaviour in the England camp at Euro 2016.

Rooney told the court that Roy Hodgson asked him at the tournament to have a word with Vardy about his wife’s behaviour.

He told the court: “The England manager, Roy Hodgson and his assistant manager Gary Neville… they asked me to, as captain, would I be able to speak to Mr Vardy on issues regarding his wife.”

He continued: “So I agreed to speak to Mr Vardy… to ask him to ask his wife to calm down.

“It was an awkward moment for me to speak to Jamie about his wife but I thought it was necessary having been asked by the England manager.”

Rooney clarified that the issue he was asked to speak to his teammate about was “Becky’s media activities” which were “causing problems and distractions.”

“I was asked to speak to Mr Vardy by the England manager and the assistant manager and I carried out that instruction… I felt in the best interests of the rest of the team, and having been asked by the manager of the England team, I carried out that instruction,” he told the court.

Jamie Vardy’s representatives have now claimed Rooney was “talking nonsense” in his evidence to the High Court.

In a statement given outside the hearing, the Leicester City striker’s representatives said: “Wayne is talking nonsense.

“He must be confused because he never spoke to me about issues concerning Becky’s media work at Euro 2016.

“There was nothing to speak about, I know this because I discuss everything with Becky.”

Although “talking nonsense” is certainly a change from ‘chat sh*t get banged.’

Rooney gave evidence at the High Court on Tuesday (Getty)

Rebekah Vardy had previously told the court that her husband insists the conversation never took place.

When this was put to Rooney by Vardy’s lawyer, Hugh Tomlinson QC, he replied: “I’m sat here under oath, I 100 percent spoke to Mr Vardy about this situation.”

“If he wants to relay that back to his wife that is entirely his business,” he added.

Tuesday is the penultimate day of the trial, in which Vardy is suing Coleen Rooney for libel after Rooney accused her of leaking stories about her private life to The Sun in October 2019. Vardy denies these accusations and claims they are false and defamatory.

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