Wayne Rooney would be welcome back to Everton with open arms.
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That was the general message from Ronald Koeman and Director of Football Steve Walsh on Tuesday as the Sky Sports cameras went live from Everton’s Finch Farm training ground throughout the day.
Speaking to Koeman about the possibility of Rooney, 31, returning to Goodison Park at the end of this season, Everton’s Dutch manager hardly swatted away the questions.
Walsh, who is in charge of recruitment at Everton after finding great success at Leicester City last season, echoed Koeman’s views as he stated they’d be stupid not to be interested in the services of Manchester United and England’s captain if he was to move away from Old Trafford this summer.
“Wayne Rooney is one of the greatest players that has ever played the game in England and for us not to be interested would be wrong,” Walsh said. “He started his career here and if the opportunity arose that he could come back and it sat well with everyone, it is something we would consider. He is a class apart, he sees things, and all the things that have been said about Wayne are true.
“He comes into that category of being one of England’s greatest ever players, so why wouldn’t we be interested? I think the whole thing would be euphoric."I think we could sell a lot of shirts, that’s for sure. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Wayne is contracted to Manchester United and made a decision to continue to play for them. Let’s wait and see what happens in the future.”
So, it’s pretty obvious Rooney would be welcome back at Everton by not only the current staff but also the fans. He held his testimonial against Everton at Old Trafford last summer and also played in Duncan Ferguson’s testimonial in 2014 at Goodison Park. Some of the fans wished he would’ve stayed at Everton but even they would understand why he moved on.
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Rooney left Everton 13 years ago for $31.1 million and has become the all-time leading scorer at Manchester United and for England.
Most Everton fans will forgive him for going on to achieve great things with United and if he could return to the Toffees for the final years of his career and help them get into the top four and challenge for silverware, surely that’s a win for everyone? At United he has the likes of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Juan Mata and Henrik Mkhitaryan to compete with.
If Rooney decided to join Everton he’d be a focal point of their attack and could easily make things tick in a No. 10 role. He’d be a starter. No doubt. The comments from Koeman and Walsh back that up.
After dismissing a move to the Chinese Super League last week, Rooney’s options in Major League Soccer could also be limited with a shift towards veteran DPs no longer arriving in the league after the departures of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba this offseason. His wages could be a stumbling block at Everton, but you’d think United wouldn’t ask for much of a transfer fee for a player who will only have one more year on his contract this summer. That would be a sort of good will gesture to smooth over Rooney’s potential move to Everton.
A born and bred Evertonian, Rooney seems to be comfortable living in the north west of England like he has his entire life. With his young family, surely he would rather head back to Everton for the final few years of his career rather than going to the U.S. or China? The money may well be better abroad but Rooney’s achievements in the game mean he won’t be short of endorsements, media opportunities and more after he retires.
Then again, he only seems to be focused on playing. If that’s the case, then he wouldn’t play regularly for any other of the PL’s current top six so signing for Everton and helping them in a playmaking role certainly seems to make sense.
The more you think about it, the more this deal makes sense for everyone concerned. Everton get a playmaker with incredible quality. Rooney gets to play regularly and play for the club he supports. United get to move on a star edging towards the end of his career and safe face doing so.