Why Everton's chairman wept in Sir Alex Ferguson's office when Manchester United tried to sign Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney is a household name for football fans around the globe. Many players would envy his career because he won accolades that others could only dream about. Rooney was the perfect team player. He was a selfless footballer for whom the team's achievements mattered more than individual records.

But what made him different from other players was the fact that he could play in any position. He had excellent vision and was a fantastic passer of the ball. He could spot a player on any part of the pitch and serve the ball to him on a plate.

He was also good at defending. Playing primarily in attack, he never hesitated to come back to defend if the team needed him. Most importantly, he was a flawless attacker. His shots were deadly, both in power and precision.

Manchester United's interest in Rooney

Wayne Rooney's promising talent was identified by Manchester United. They did not hesitate and pounced up on the opportunity to sign him

As a teenager at Everton, Rooney took the Premier League up by storm. People started comparing him to yet another talented teenager in the Premier League - Cristiano Ronaldo. That was until Manchester United stepped in to sign Rooney from Everton.

Everton were in a bad financial situation back then, and Manchester United had the money they required. They were unwilling to sell Rooney, but they desperately needed an injection of cash. Sir Alex Ferguson mentioned in his autobiography that Bill Kenwright, the Everton chairman, was crying when they came to buy the boy.

Sir Alex wrote that a meeting was held between David Gill (Manchester United's Chief Executive), Sir Alex, David Moyes (Everton's manager), and Bill Kenwright. It was held in his office after Manchester United played Everton. Upon receiving the news that Manchester United wanted to buy Rooney, the Everton chairman broke down and cried.

Here is a passage from Sir Alex's autobiography which describes the incident :

"Through his tears Bill said: 'I'll need to phone my mother. They're stealing our boy, they're stealing our boy,' he said down the line. Then he passed the phone to me. 'Don't you dare think you're getting that boy for nothing. That boy's worth fifty million pounds' said a female voice."

According to Sir Alex, David Moyes, the Everton manager who later succeeded him at Manchester United, was not impressed when they tried to sign Rooney. He also wrote the following words in his autobiography -

"David Moyes was giving me the eyes"

The deal was completed on 31st August 2004, seven hours before the deadline. Everton received a healthy fee of €25 million. Rooney went on to impress everyone with his performance in Manchester United's shirt. He famously scored a hat-trick on his debut in the Champions League match against Fenerbahce.

Rooney ended up scoring 253 goals and creating 146 assists in 559 games for Manchester United. He became the club's record goal scorer when he left the club in 2017.

He won multiple Premier League titles, FA Cups and one Champions League trophy with Manchester United.