I received death threats after joining Man Utd in 2004 — Rooney

A former England striker, Wayne Rooney, has revealed that he received death threats after leaving his boyhood club, Everton, to join Manchester United.

The move, made in 2004 when Rooney was 18, saw him sign for the Red Devils in a £27 million deal after turning down a club-record contract from Everton, sparking outrage among some of the Toffees’ supporters.

As reported by BBC Sport on Friday, the ex-Man United player said, “I got death threats.

“My parents’ house was getting spray-painted and smashed up. My girlfriend at the time, wife now, had her house getting spray-painted.

“I think that’s where you have to be mentally strong. The people around you have to help. Leaving was difficult because I went to Manchester United, 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 the latest episode of BBC Sport’s The Wayne Rooney Show.

Rooney’s oldest son, Kai, is currently on the books at United and has stressed the importance of making sure he has a strong support network as he looks to make it in professional football.

“Now the difference is social media. 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 are hundreds of thousands or millions of people watching them when they’re that young, and I didn’t have that really.

“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 interests. It’s the main thing.”