Wayne Rooney hilariously digs out 'crap' former Everton teammates
Wayne Rooney has admitted that he couldn't believe how 'crap' some of his former Everton teammates were after he broke into the side.
Rooney burst onto the Premier League scene as a 16-year-old when he beat Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman with a terrific long-range winner at Goodison Park in 2002.
It didn't take long for the teenager to become a regular for Everton, and very quickly he was snapped up by Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United - he would go onto become the Red Devils' all-time record goalscorer during a trophy laden spell at the club.
Speaking to Toffee TV, Rooney reminisced about his early days at Everton and how he got his break under David Moyes. Comically, he took aim at the quality of some of his teammates and admitted that he couldn't believe how bad some of them were.
"It's mad how quick it changed," Rooney said when speaking of sharing a dressing room with players he'd looked up to.
"For me to go in with Duncan (Ferguson), Stubbsy (Alan Stubbs), all of them who have I grew up watching, to then go and play with them, train with them every day and play with them, and then so quickly, I remember thinking: 'These are crap!'
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"Obviously not all of them, but some of the players I was thinking, 'what's going on here?' I couldn't believe how bad some of them were. I remember thinking 'I'm better than all these players'.
"That's not disrespecting to them players but some of them just weren't good enough and should never have played for Everton."
Rooney's departure from Everton in 2004 was hardly a surprise, but the manner of his departure is not something he looks back on fondly. Indeed, Rooney said he'd have preferred to stay for another year, but an attempt to sell him to Chelsea soured his relationship with the club.
"From my point of view, ideally, I would have liked to have stayed for another year and see where we went from there," he said. "When the [2003/04] season finished, the club had tried to do a deal with Chelsea for me, without me knowing.
"When I found out, I was fuming. I remember speaking with my agent and telling him that if they're going to sell me, I should have a say in where I go. I don't want to go to Chelsea. I didn't want to leave at the time but once I knew they were trying to sell me, I thought 'ok'.
"I injured my foot at the Euros and went on holiday afterwards. When I came back, Everton wouldn't let me train, in case I got injured, because they wanted to sell me. I left and took a lot of stick over leaving but I don't think the club were too innocent either."