Former England star, Wayne Rooney, has revealed that he received death threats from Everton supporters following his 2004 transfer to Manchester United.
Rooney, then just 18, completed a £27 million switch to Old Trafford after rejecting a record contract offer from his boyhood club.
In a fresh episode of BBC’s The Wayne Rooney Show, the 40-year-old, who later became United’s all-time top scorer, explained that coping with the backlash required immense mental resilience and a clear focus on his ambitions.
According to Rooney, the hostility extended to his loved ones.
“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.
