Former Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney has said that he received death threats after he left and joined the 20-time English champions from Everton in 2004. The 40-year-old, who ended his career as the club’s leading goal scorer, said that he needed to have immense mental strength to deal with such actions and was clear about what he wanted in his career.
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Rooney played for United from 2004 to 2017, winning five Premier League titles and the Champions League in 2008.
“I got death threats. My parents’ house was getting spray painted and smashed up. My girlfriend at the time, wife now, her house was getting spray painted. I think that’s where you have to be mentally strong. The people around you have to help.”
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“Leaving was difficult because I went to Manchester United, and Liverpool and Manchester was a big rivalry so that made it a lot more difficult. But I was always of a mindset of ‘I don’t care’. I knew what I wanted and I knew how to get there.”
“I had to stay tough in my mind. This was people from my city so it was tough but I thought ‘I don’t care’, you have to be selfish and make these decisions,” Rooney said on BBC’s “The Wayne Rooney Show”.
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The 40-year-old also opened up about social media’s role in today’s times, admitting that his 16-year-old son Kai, who is currently part of Manchester United’s youth team, had to deal with a lot more eyeballs than he had when he was a youngster.
“When I was young, I was in the local newspapers and so everyone in Liverpool really knew me.”
“Now I have it with my boy who’s 16 and he’s on social media. He plays for my United, he’s sponsored by Puma and there’s hundreds of thousands or millions of people watching them when they’re that young, and I didn’t have that really,” he said.
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“Being a young player and going into the first team especially, you’re getting judged. Rightly or wrongly, you get judged and that’s where you need the people around you, people at the club or your family to keep you in a good place.”
“We can all get carried away with social media as well. So it’s really important that the people who are close to you have your best interest. It’s the main thing,” Rooney added.
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