“I kept trying. All I wanted was clarity.”
Wayne Rooney has been speaking about his exit from Everton during the summer. Rooney re-joined his boyhood club from Manchester United ahead of the 2017/18 Premier League season, 13 years after he left Goodison Park for the Red Devils.
But he lasted just a season with Everton and signed for DC United back in June.
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The former England captain started last season well. He scored the winner against Stoke City on the first day of the season, got a goal away to Manchester City in a 1-1 draw and scored a hat-trick against West Ham at Goodison Park.
Rooney ended up scoring 11 goals in 40 matches for the Toffees, but his impact waned as the season progressed.
Ronald Koeman was sacked as Everton floundered in the Premier League and in the Europa League. Under Sam Allardyce, Koeman’s replacement, Rooney dropped into midfield and struggled for form.
At the end of the season, Allardyce was sacked and replaced by Marco Silva, while Rooney packed his bags and headed to MLS.
England and United’s record goalscorer has said that he was “disappointed” with the nature of his Everton exit. He said that Farhad Moshiri, the club’s majority shareholder, took the decision to end his second spell at the club.
Rooney recounted how he ended up leaving Everton in an interview with Jonathan Northcroft in The Sunday Times.
“I went to see Sam, and said, ‘Listen, I’m not a kid, what’s going on — do you want me or not?’
“To be fair to Sam, he was honest. He said, ‘If I’m still here next season you mightn’t play as much but I still want you’. ‘
“Thanks for your honesty,’ I said.
“But then he said, ‘I’m not sure the owner has the same opinion.’
“And trying to get an honest answer out of the owner took three months. I kept trying. All I wanted was clarity.
“Even Marco Silva was surprised because he was told I was leaving — before I was told I could leave.”
Rooney has supported Everton all his life and made his first-team debut for the club in 2002 when he was just 16. After submitting a transfer request, he moved to Old Trafford in 2004 for £25m. Rooney won every trophy possible at United before returning to Everton.
He has impressed with DC United since his move to the United States, scoring four goals in 11 games.
But it appears he is still hurt by how his exit from Everton was handled.
“I was just left a bit sad. It ended badly at 18 when I left the first time. I was a kid and you say and do things you don’t understand. But, this time, being older and wiser, all I was asking for was honesty — which never seemed to come.”
