Paul Scholes reveals he played secret role in helping Sir Alex Ferguson sign Wayne Rooney
Paul Scholes played with Wayne Rooney for nine years where they won countless honours together, including five Premier League titles and one Champions League trophy
Paul Scholes claims his phone call to Wayne Rooney aided Sir Alex Ferguson in signing the former striker for Manchester United.
The Red Devils icon revealed his secret role in landing Rooney – who joined the Premier League giants in a £27million transfer from Everton in 2004 – during the latest instalment of the Football’s Greatest podcast, which he hosts with former team-mate Nicky Butt.
The 49-year-old explained how Ferguson recruited him in order to help secure Rooney’s signature, which occurred just a year after Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at Old Trafford.
“I was a small part of that actually because we played with Wayne for England and the manager asked me to ring him,” Scholes said. “The manager sent me his phone number and [said] ‘I want to sign him’, I rang him at home, it’s weird because I never spoke to him before, I’d only seen him for a day at England.
“I said ‘Wazza it’s Scholesy, the gaffa really wants you, he’s desperate to sign you, what do you think?’ He said ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah I’d love to come’, straight away.”
The then-teenager was an instant success at United, scoring 17 goals in all competitions in his first season. He went on to spend 13 years at the club and became United’s record goalscorer with 253 strikes in 559 games.
Scholes and Rooney spent nine years as team-mates but despite their hefty collection of silverware, the pair were once engaged in a feud. Back in 2014, the former midfielder suggested that Rooney’s best years may not be ahead of him after United awarded him with a five-year contract under Louis van Gaal.
The ex-United captain took umbrage with Scholes’ comments, claiming that they may have upset individuals at the club. “I’m sure he’s upset a lot of people at Man United because they see me as worthy of signing a new deal at the club, so they obviously have got a different opinion to what Paul has,” Rooney said.
“It was a big strange, I’ll be honest, but he has his opinions and he’s entitled to them,” Rooney added. “I don’t agree with it, but he’s probably the best player I’ve ever played with, so I’m not going to knock him as a player, but I don’t agree with his point. I’m sure he has his reasons for it.”
