Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he twice failed to sign Wayne Rooney from Everton.

Rooney, an Everton academy recruit, was brought in by then manager Ferguson in 2004 for a fee of £25.6m, the highest at that time for a player below the age of 20.




Though the fee raised a few eyebrows at the time, the veteran manager was proven to be right, having seen the 18-year-old flourish at Old Trafford over the course his time in charge.

The 73-year-old revealed he had to sweat it out in order to convince the young striker to make a switch to Old Trafford as Rooney had not been convinced about the move twice before and had a deeply embedded love for Everton in his heart.
 


"Jim Ryan [Manchester United’s director of youth football at that time] came back from one of our academy games at the 14 years level and he said 'I've seen a player' and he said the boy is Wayne Rooney", Ferguson said in an interview with ITV.

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"We tried to get him because there's a window at the end of the season – it's a one week window – where we can entice or approach a boy from another club to come join your academy, but it failed.

"The boy wanted to stay at Everton – at that time he had a love of the club and he's an Everton fan."

The rejection didn't deter Ferguson as he kept tabs on the player and once again returned with an offer two years' later, though the outcome was the same.

"When he got to 16 we tried again. We approached him to join as a 16-year-old, but once again he refused.

"Then I think everyone saw the highlights when he scored that goal against Arsenal. It confirmed exactly what Jim Ryan had said. This boy was going to be a United player."

The interest, Ferguson revealed, was renewed once again the following year after seeing him in action for Everton. This time though the efforts bore fruits with the young striker finally deciding to join the Red Devils.

"And then he came on as a sub against us and we beat them 4-3 and he missed a sitter in that game. But he came on as 17-year-old lad.

"After that, I had Walter Smith as my assistant and he said 'we've got to get this kid, we've got to get him', and that started the process of the bid. Eventually we got it done in my office after we played Everton.

"There was Bill Kenwright [chairman of Everton], Maurice Watkins [former director of Manchester United’s football board] and David Moyes [former Everton manager], obviously, arguing over the deal and we eventually got it done."