Wayne Rooney Opens Up On Relationships With God And Alcohol

Wayne Rooney has admitted that he used to lock himself away and drink to excess alone during his early career at Manchester United.

Rooney joined United in a deal worth just under £30m when he was only 18.

He was viewed by many back then as someone who could become the best player in the world. Quite a lot of pressure for a teenager to deal with.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo ensured that he fell short of that status, but Rooney did still enjoy a remarkable career.

Rooney won 12 major trophies with United and is currently England's all-time record goalscorer, although Harry Kane looks set to take that title off him soon.

Many footballers go off the rails at some point in their careers. This often occurs as a mid-career crisis for some, once they have built up a certain level of wealth and fame.

But Rooney's rise was so instant. Within a flash he went from being a tough kid, fighting on the tough streets of Liverpool, to being a huge name in world football and a big-time celebrity.

Speaking in an interview with the Mail on Sunday this week, he conceded that this was hard to deal with. He said: "My mum and dad never had a lot of money at all. It was difficult growing up there. I was always getting into fights and arguments in that area.

"To go from that to having to deal with becoming a Premier League player at 16 and an international player was something I wasn't prepared for.

"I had never even thought about the other side of being a football player. I wasn't prepared for that part of life."

Wayne Rooney pictured on his Manchester United debut in 2004

IMAGO/Geoff Martin

Rooney's name was not only featured on the sports pages as a young man. He saw his personal life played out on the front pages too. And it certainly wasn't all positive news.

He continued: "I had made a lot of mistakes when I was younger, some in the press and some not in the press, whether that's fighting or whatever. For me to deal with that, deal with stuff that was in the newspapers, deal with the manager at the time, deal with family at the time, was very difficult.

"In my early years at Manchester United, probably until we had my first son, Kai, I locked myself away really. I never went out.

"There were times you'd get a couple of days off from football and I would actually lock myself away and just drink, to try to take all that away from my mind.

"People might know that I liked a drink at times or went out but there was a lot more to it than just that. It was what was going on in my head."

Rooney does not consider himself to be an alcoholic but he admitted in his Mail on Sunday tell-all that he used drinking "binges" to "forget" some personal issues.

Not all of Rooney's personal issues have been linked to football or his celebrity status. He had been close to his grandmother growing up and her death clearly hit him hard.

Opening up about his relationship with god, Rooney revealed that he prays and that he still has a spiritual relationship with his deceased nan, as well as his wife's sister Rosie, who died in 2013 aged 14 after a battle with the rare brain disorder Rett syndrome.

"I still feel they are a presence... don't worry I'm not going mad," he joked. "That might be something I'm clinging on to. It mightn't be there. I get that. But I feel their presence."

Rooney left Manchester United after 13 years in 2017 when he returned to Everton. Playing spells with D.C. United and Derby County followed, before he began his managerial career with Derby in 2020.

Rooney has been Derby County manager since November 2020

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For a first job, Rooney could barely have chosen a harder gig but he has earned a lot of credit for his performance and conduct under difficult circumstances.

Derby are heavily in debt and fighting for their very existence, as well as their Championship status after being hit with a 21-point penalty.

But Rooney remains committed to the cause, having rejected the chance to talk with Everton in January prior to Frank Lampard's appointment.

"Everton approached my agent and asked me to interview for the vacant job which I turned down," Rooney told the Derby Telegraph at the time.

"As I have said, I believe that I will be a Premier League manager and believe I am ready for that 100 per cent and if that is with Everton one day in the future then that would be absolutely great.

"But I have a job here that I am doing with Derby that is an important job to me and that means getting the team ready for Sunday."