Wayne Rooney makes sincere admission about Man City job that could enrage Man Utd fans
Wayne Rooney insists he would ‘walk’ to Manchester City if Pep Guardiola offered him a coaching position, despite the outrage it would likely incite among Manchester United supporters.
Rooney’s early years as a manager have been a mixed bag, with the former United and England striker facing some difficult situations.
A year and a half at DC United was sandwiched between unsuccessful spells as manager of Derby County and Birmingham City, the latter of which he left in January.
He is still only 38 years old, so he has little coaching experience and plenty of time to grow.
Few managers provide a better opportunity than Guardiola, and Rooney would not hesitate to join United’s fierce rivals in order to advance his personal career.
“It depends [on whether I’d ever be an assistant] – if Pep Guardiola comes in and asks me to be his assistant, you’d walk there!” Rooney told the Stick To Football podcast.
“But you see what [Mikel] Arteta is doing now and I strongly believe a lot of that is from learning what Guardiola was doing and so it depends on what the situation is.
“I watched one of our games back [for United], against Liverpool from about 15 years ago, and the difference to how the game was played then to how it is now is massive,” Rooney added.
“For me, the best manager is Pep, and you look at how he adapts – how they [City] are playing now is not the same as how they were playing four years ago.
“He keeps making these subtle changes, and then you see everyone else trying to do the same. It’s important to have your own principles and ideas of what you want to do and that’s what I’ve tried to do at Derby, DC [United] and at Birmingham, but unfortunately it didn’t work.”
After two seasons at Derby County, who were relegated to League One after being docked 21 points in total, Rooney spent a year and a half at DC United before signing with Birmingham City in October.
The former striker was fired in January and has been out of work since.
Wayne Rooney makes sincere admission about Man City job that could enrage Man Utd fans