Ex Manchester United and Everton star Wayne Rooney issues verdict on Goodison Park return

Former Manchester United and Everton striker Wayne Rooney has opened up about his potential return to Goodison Park as a manager.

 

In an interview with the Athletic’s David Ornstein [19 July], the Premier League and Champions League winner confirmed that he wants to manage the two clubs in the future.

He hopes that the door is open for him at some point in the future and that he’s ready for the job.

Rooney said, “Everton and Manchester United are the two clubs. I grew up supporting Everton and spent a long time at United. You hope in the future something becomes available and my job is to make sure I’m ready.”

Meant for him?

Rooney has not gone down the route of what a number of big-name players from his generation have done.

The likes of Frank Lampard, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and Steven Gerrard, all took up jobs in the Premier League far too soon.

Rooney started with Derby County, much like Lampard, but then did not move to Everton, even though he had the chance, while Lampard accepted the Chelsea role and failed there.

He’s now doing a decent job at DC United and if he improves as a manager, then he could be back at Goodison Park.

Thus far, he’s proven to be the real deal tactically and he’ll only get better with the more experiences he has as a football manager.

Fans would also love to see him return to where he shone as a teenage prodigy and it will be interesting to see the rapturous ovation he gets should he become the manager one day.

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Wayne Rooney has identified Sean Dyche as the one man that has impressed him at Everton.

Speaking to The Athletic, the DC United boss claimed that Dyche has done a good job since joining the Toffees, while he was less impressed with some of the players.

Born in Liverpool, Rooney spent around nine years with Everton in total before ending his playing career in 2021. The 37-year-old joined DC United’s coaching staff last summer, however he has still had time to keep up with the previous Premier League season.

“It’s a club that has clearly been broken over the last few years and they don’t seem to have got it right off the pitch, which is having an impact on the pitch,” Rooney told The Athletic.

“The players have to do better — they’ve got some really good players and they’re underachieving through the quality of the squad. They got a bit of luck to get through the last two years and still be in the Premier League.

“Sean Dyche has done a good job. Hopefully he can steady the team and club. The stadium is coming and there needs to be some change to try and get that club back to where we all know it can be.”

Rooney left Goodison Park with the club finishing in 8th place back in 2018, with the likes of Jordan Pickford, Idrissa Gueye and Dominic Calvert-Lewin all playing alongside him.

 

Despite heaping praise on Dyche, the former attacker has also admitted he would love to manage Everton one day – a prospect he would need to work for given his lack of experience in the top flight.

Everton need another Wayne Rooney

It’s been a long time since Everton had a player like Wayne Rooney burst on the scenes from their academy. Of course, it is extremely unlikely that anyone will come close to Rooney’s quality on Finch Farm, but someone to excite the fans would be beneficial.

Ross Barkley was the next bright spark to take to the Goodison Park pitch and it would have been interesting to see what wonders he could have performed if he hadn’t joined Chelsea five years ago.

Similarly, Anthony Gordon’s potential is no longer of any interest to the Everton faithful after his controversial move to Newcastle United in January.

The Toffees need excitement and Sean Dyche needs a lot more quality to work with next season.