DC United forward Wayne Rooney says he left Goodison Park because he was pushed out by Everton‘s owners.
The former Manchester United and England striker left the Premier League at the end of the summer to play for DC United in MLS after 16 years playing in the top flight.
Rooney doesn’t have much left to prove in football. Over his career, he has won the Premier League title five times, the Champions League once, while becoming United’s all-time leading goal scorer.
Despite his glittering spell at Old Trafford, Rooney insists he returned to Everton – not just to play out his career – to help his boyhood club lift their first trophy since 1995.
“That was always a dream of mine but unfortunately that didn’t happen. I was a bit disappointed with the way it ended but that’s football,” Rooney said (via Goal).
“It wasn’t just about ending my career at Everton. I could see the club were trying to move forward and bring players in and I wanted to be part of that. I felt we were putting foundations down to maybe win that trophy and have a push at the top six.”
Everton finished eighth in the Premier League last season and Rooney said that relocating to the midfield deprived him of more goals, but ultimately secured the Toffees’ place in the top-half of the table.
Rooney added that a conversation with then manager Sam Allardyce revealed the owners wanted him to leave.
“So I went in to see Sam Allardyce and said: ‘Listen I’m not a kid. What’s going on? Do you want me here or not?’ To be fair to Sam he was probably the honest one.
“He said if he was still there next season I mightn’t play as much but he still wanted me to be here and be a big part of things. Then he said: ‘But I’m not sure the owner has the same opinion.'”
Rooney explained that it took three months to get an honest answer from Farhad Moshiri, Everton’s principal owner. “I kept trying and trying. All I wanted was clarity,” he added. “There were some positives: my four children seeing me play for Everton.
“Even though my youngest two won’t remember, we still have the pictures to look back on when they’re older of me at Goodison.
“There was scoring at Anfield for Everton, scoring my first hat-trick for Everton. But 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 things and do things that you don’t really understand. But this time, being a bit older and a bit wiser I was only asking for a bit of honesty and that never really seemed to come, except from Sam Allardyce.”
Everton host West Ham United at Goodison Park on Sunday while Rooney and DC United entertain New York Red Bulls.
The post Wayne Rooney: I’m angry at the way Everton treated me appeared first on Squawka News.
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