Wayne Rooney Opens up On Why He Hated Playing as Striker for Manchester United
- Rooney morphed into a midfielder towards the end of his career
- However, in his prime, he was once the designated goalscorer for Alex Ferguson, who played him as a number 9 in 2009 and 2010
- The 36-year old Derby County manager recently confessed he hated playing in that position, despite scoring 54 times in 93 games as a number 9
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Former Manchester United forward Wayner Rooney recently opened up on why he despised playing as a number 9 during his days as a Red Devil.
Source: Getty Images
Rooney is United’s all-time goalscorers and will go down in the club’s history as one of the key players during the Sir Alex Ferguson era.
The England international had two memorable seasons in 2008-09 and 2009-10 where he was at the peak of his goalscoring powers, but as it turns out, those were also some of his most miserable in a Manchester United shirt.
In a candid interview with former teammates Rio Ferdinand and Marcus Rashford as part of the 'Between The Lines' feature on BT Sport, Rooney was brutally honest about his playing position in those two campaigns.
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“Them two seasons (2008-09, 2009-10) were the two seasons I played as a number nine on my own," Rooney said on BT Sport.
The 36-year old went on to confess that despite being played as a sole number nine, he was happier being more involved in the team’s build-up to the goals.
"I played there in and out in different games but I played for the whole season in the two years.
"I actually didn't enjoy the games as much. I've always been a player that wants to get involved in the game and it is something that Marcus will learn over next few years.
"It took me seven or eight years to learn how to play there and to learn to play with your back to goal. It's the hardest position to play. You've got big centre-backs coming through the back of you and you're on your own.
"I weren't enjoying it, but it was my best two years of scoring. I remember coming off the pitch and scoring two goals and saying, 'I was awful. I didn't play that well today. I didn't have that many touches of the ball.'" Rooney admitted.
In those two campaigns, Rooney managed to score 54 times in 93 matches.
His most impressive campaign was in the 2009/10 season, where he bagged 26 goals in the Premier League and won the PFA Player of the year.
Rio Ferdinand sympathized with Rooney as he also recalled wanting to ask Sir Alex Ferguson to play Rooney in the number 10 position.
As his career wore on, Rooney went deeper in midfield and was pretty much playing centrally for Man United before moving to his boyhood club Everton.
He finished his career at Derby County, where he is currently the boss after being appointed in January.
With Derby, he dramatically helped them avoid relegation to League One after a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, May 8.
Earlier, Briefly News reported that Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney was handed straight red twice during his 15-year reign at the national level.
One of the moments the Derby County forward was sent off was in the FIFA World Cup quarterfinal clash between England and Portugal.
He got entangled with former Chelsea star Ricardo Carvalho in a battle for the ball but stamped the defender in the process. The action that got him sent off the pitch.
Rooney's red card was however aided by his former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo who protested after witnessing the situation.
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Source: Briefly News
Stefan Mack (Editor) Stefan Mack is an English and history teacher who has broadened his horizons with journalism. He enjoys experiencing the human condition through the world's media. Stefan keeps Briefly News' readers entertained during the weekend. He graduated from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2010 with a Bachelor of Education (BEd), majoring in History and English. Stefan has been writing for Briefly News for a number of years and has covered mainstream to human interest articles.
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
