ROONEY REJECTED MAN UTD TWICE BEFORE £25.6M MOVE, REVEALS FERGUSON

The England captain was first
spotted playing for Everton
Under-14s but rejected the
advances of United on two
occasions before joining
from Everton in 2004
Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that
Wayne Rooney rejected Manchester
United on two occasions before his
£25.6 million move to Old Trafford
in 2004.
Rooney first came to the attention
of United when their former
reserve team coach Jim Ryan
spotted the forward playing in a
match for Everton Under-14s.
"Jim Ryan came back from one of
our academy games at the 14 years
level and he said 'I've seen a
player' and he said the boy is
Wayne Rooney and we tried to get
him because there's a window at
the end of the season - it's a one
week window - where we can entice
or approach a boy from another
club to come join your academy,
but it failed,” Ferguson told ITV .
"The boy wanted to stay at Everton
- at that time he had a love of the
club and he's an Everton fan.
"When he got to 16 we tried again.
We approached him to join as a 16-
year-old, but once again he
refused. Then I think everyone saw
the highlights when he scored that
goal against Arsenal. It confirmed
exactly exactly what Jim Ryan had
said. This boy was going to be a
United player."
Ferguson recounted the moment
he decided to sign Rooney after the
England captain came on as a half-
time substitute in Everton’s 4-3
defeat to United at Goodison Park
in February 2004.
“He missed a sitter in that game.
But he came on as 17-year-old
lad,” said the former United boss.
“After that, I had Walter Smith as
my assistant and he said 'we've got
to get this kid, we've got to get
him', and that started the process
of the bid. "Eventually we got it
done in my office after we played
Everton. There was Bill Kenwright,
Maurice Watkins and David Moyes,
obviously, arguing over the deal
and we eventually got it done."

By Patrick Capella ©