Sir Alex Ferguson made two attempts to sign Wayne Rooney from Everton, as revealed by David Moyes. Moyes provided insight into Ferguson’s initial interest in the young striker.
Rooney, then 18, made the move to Manchester United in August 2004. The deal was worth £27m.
Moyes’s Fight to Keep Rooney
Moyes said: “I never wanted Wayne to leave.”
Moyes recounted the moment Ferguson first approached him: “The worst was the guy I had looked up to so much, Sir Alex Ferguson, phoned me and said he wanted to meet me at Haydock Thistle Hotel. I was wondering what was that he wanted.”
“I got there and there was a room booked and he came in and said, ‘I want Rooney’. I said, ‘No, he is not for sale. No chance, I am not selling him’. He said, ‘OK, that’s fine but you are not letting him go to Chelsea or anywhere else?’ – and I said, ‘no chance’.”
Moyes added: “He said that was fine and left it at that to be fair. He was very straight with me because I told him I didn’t want Wayne to go.”
Ferguson’s Second Approach
Moyes revealed that Ferguson returned with another offer weeks later.
He added: “Three or four weeks later I get another call and Ferguson said, ‘I want to meet you are at the same place again because I want Wayne and things have moved on’.”
Euro 2004 Impact
Rooney believes his performances at Euro 2004 sped up Ferguson’s pursuit. He scored four goals in four matches for England.
A broken foot in the quarter-final ended Rooney’s tournament. England lost to Portugal in a penalty shootout.
Rooney said Ferguson “wanted to wait a year”.
“He wanted to wait another year and then because I’d done so well at the Euros, it was just basically everyone was starting to get in ahead of the other one, then it became inevitable that I was gonna go that summer.”