Former Manchester United and England legend Wayne Rooney said he “was bored” when scoring 34 goals in a season because he wanted to “get involved” more.
The 40-year-old spent 13 years at Old Trafford after starring as a 16-year-old with Everton, playing 559 matches and scoring 253 goals for United.
His best position is something that was always debated in his playing career, in which he scored 53 goals in his 120 England caps. His appearances are a record for an outfield player.
Rooney is adamant that while he enjoyed playing everywhere, he was most effective just behind the striker in the No. 10 role.
Speaking on the Wayne Rooney Show on BBC Sport, he said: “[I enjoyed playing] anywhere really, anywhere across the midfield or forward line.
“I was at my best when just going to play and I’d pop up on the left or the right and I’d pop up behind midfielders at times.
“Just playing, being on the pitch in the attacking third, that was what I liked and enjoyed — if you wanted one position, then probably the No. 10.
“Sometimes I was not allowed, I was not meant to be doing it at times and the manager would be screaming at me to get further up the pitch and stuff. But sometimes you feel a game and, in my head, that is what I am feeling a game needs.”
Rooney’s skillset was such that he would be used as a striker, No. 10 or even deeper in the midfield depending on the needs of the team at the time.
In 2009, Rooney was deployed as the first choice No. 9 at Old Trafford and he scored 34 goals in all competitions that year, with 26 coming in the Premier League and five in the Champions League.
Two years later and Rooney was again playing as the striker for United, where he repeated the feat of 34 goals, this time scoring 27 in the Premier League and five in a mixture of the Champions League and Europa League.
Those are incredibly impressive numbers that most football players could only dream of, but for Rooney, it was not enough to keep him satisfied.
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“I had two seasons when I played as the No. 9 and I scored 34 goals in both the seasons but I was bored,” he said.
“I was coming off the pitch, I was scoring goals and I just wasn’t enjoying it.
“I liked to play football and get involved in the game, so I was scoring goals and obviously we were winning games but I wanted to get involved in the game.
“We lost players and I went up top, of course I love scoring goals and I love playing up front but I want to be playing a little bit more.”
Rooney was part of some of the most frightening attacking lineups the Premier League has seen but when asked who his favourite forward to play alongside was, the answer was simple for him.
“Tevez, I really enjoyed playing with Carlos,” Rooney said. “I enjoyed playing with all of them but with Carlos, there was a big thing in the papers when we were signing him saying we were too similar, we couldn’t play together.
“I think for both of us that made us go ‘ok, we’ll show you.’ And we were aggressive and we worked hard and tackled as well but then bounced off each other, one of us would play as the nine, the other as the 10, we would change it up. So he was definitely my favourite one to play with.”
