After 13 Long Years, Rooney Returns Home to Everton

It was the end of an era as Wayne Rooney left Manchester United to re-sign for Everton, the club that kick-started his career. The 31-year-old had spent 13 years in the Red Devils jersey and had scored 253 goals for them. During his long and illustrious career, Rooney has guided United to five Premier League titles, a Champions League title, a Europa League title and an FA Cup title.

An ‘ecstatic’ Rooney admitted that the first game back would be very emotional. “It’s a great feeling to be back. I cannot wait to meet the lads, get on the training pitch and then get on the pitch to play,” he said. The experienced Briton, joined Everton on a free transfer for a two-year stint. Everton manager Ronald Koeman expressed his desire to sign Rooney since October 2016 and also said that Wayne would bring ambition and a winning mentality to the team.

“We have a lot of young players and sometimes in life you need somebody who you look up to, who you learn from. That was also one of the messages when we spoke about on and off the pitch what his function will be in the team.”

“One of the functions for Wayne is to show the rest of the team why he is – and still is – that player.” said Koeman. A reason why such a move would make sense for the 31-year old is because he was getting fewer and fewer opportunities to play under Jose Mourinho. Rooney will always be remembered by United fans very fondly and he was one of United’s star players. Now a new chapter begins in Rooney’s career at Everton.