Wayne Rooney Reveals Conversation That Led to Man Utd Exit

Wayne Rooney knew his time at Old Trafford was up and asked for permission to leave.

Man Utd said goodbye to Wayne Rooney after 13 years of service. / James Baylis/AMA/Getty Images

Wayne Rooney has revealed that an “honest conversation” with José Mourinho paved the way for him to eventually leave Manchester United in the summer of 2017, having originally asked for permission to go six months earlier.

By the time he traded Old Trafford for a return to boyhood club Everton, a deal intertwined with Romelu Lukaku moving in the opposite direction, Rooney had made 559 appearances for the Red Devils over 13 years. His 253 goals are a club record unlikely to be touched for a long time.

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But it was clear by the time Rooney hit 30 years of age in October 2015, having been starting regularly for club and country since the age of 17, that his once world class powers were starting to diminish. So when Mourinho arrived in 2016 and brought in Zlatan Ibrahimović, a player who was a few years older but hadn’t really peaked until turning 30, Rooney knew his time was up.

“I started the season with Zlatan and I knew José only plays one up front,” he recalled.

“In the first three or four games, he played the two of us and I knew as soon as I had a bad game that I wasn’t going to play and Zlatan was going to be the forward.”

Rooney did indeed start in a supporting role just behind Ibrahimović as United faced Bournemouth, Southampton, Hull City, Manchester City and Watford in the early weeks of the campaign. With competition from Juan Mata for the No. 10 role and Ibrahimović scoring freely as the No. 9, Rooney dropped to the bench and was in and out of the lineup until the latter got injured in April.

Rooney soon realised that, despite his Man Utd status, José Mourinho favoured Zlatan Ibrahimović. / Michael Steele/Getty Images

That scenario was exactly why Mourinho reacted how he did when Rooney requested to leave.

“I went in and had an honest conversation with José and asked him if I could go on loan in January because I wanted to play and he said no. He said he needed me more so for the Europa League but I could leave in the summer,” Rooney said.

“I stood up, shook his hand, didn’t complain about it again, sat on the bench and came on and played a few games from then until the end of the season. But that was an honest conversation and two men shaking hands and agreeing on something which I think is probably the right thing to do.”

Rooney was sharing the memory in response to Mohamed Salah’s explosive comments about feeling as though Liverpool have thrown him under the bus with a recent benching.

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‘Time Catches Up With All of Us’

Rooney, have been a vocal critic of Salah this season after seeing the Egyptian superstar’s performance level drop, leading to his eventual benching by Arne Slot.

He took particular exception to Salah’s comments about not having to fight for his place on a daily basis because Liverpool’s star man feels he’s already earned it with historic contributions.

Rooney also expressed shock and disappointment that Salah’s response to what is a natural part of football hasn’t been to work even harder.

Rooney is critical of Mohamed Salah’s to being benched. / Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images

“Time catches up with all of us when you are playing and this season he hasn't looked at his best, at his sharpest,” the former England captain said. “I have been quite vocal about that over the last couple of months and clearly Arne Slot has seen that and put him on the bench.

“What you would like to think is, he is one of the main players—if not the main player—for Liverpool over the last few years and you want to see him roll his sleeves up and say, ‘Okay then, I’ll show you.’

“What is hard is when you get to that age, and your performances drop, you look for reasons why and the last person you look at is yourself. And I think that’s what’s happening with him.

“I am sure over the next couple of years, when he actually looks back at this, he will regret saying it. There’s only him who can get him out of this situation and that’s by playing better ... and I know that sounds simple but rather than looking internally, he is looking for anything to put the blame on.”

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