Wayne Rooney has said he didn't feel it was the right time to join Everton as manager in January and has shared his concerns over the club's recent Premier League plight.
The current Derby County boss and former Toffees forward was strongly linked with the vacant post earlier in the year, as Rafa Benitez was sacked following a torrid run of form. Eventually, Rooney was not part of the interview process, with Frank Lampard eventually named as Benitez's successor ahead of Vitor Pereira and Duncan Ferguson.
Rooney has been earning rave reviews for the job he's been doing with the Rams - they are still in contention to stay in the Championship despite a 21-point deduction at the start of the campaign - and many believed he would be a fine fit at Goodison Park.
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However, England and Manchester United's all-time top scorer said he didn't think it was the right time to take over his boyhood club.
"I got approached by Everton to go and do an interview for the manager's job," he told Sky Sports' Monday Night Football. "As I've said, I'm in a job, I'm at Derby, I'm still learning and just felt it wasn't the right time.
"Obviously Frank has gone in there and - tough job, where they've been all season. Obviously I didn't feel Rafael Benitez was the right fit for Everton coming in. That didn't work out and the players have lost confidence.
"Since Frank has come in, you can see he is trying to create a mentality in the players, but a lot of damage has been done in the early part of the season. Now it is how they claw themselves out of that. They've got a massive game on Wednesday against Burnley away - I think it's a must win."
Everton are currently down in 17th in the Premier League table and a loss on Wednesday would drag them deep into the mire. Rooney was asked how concerned he was about the team's performances, with just 25 points taken from 28 games in the Premier League.
"Very," he admitted. "When you see the West Ham game, it was a better performance but I think once you're in that run of form and you find things difficult - it's like the second goal, [Alex] Iwobi gives the ball away and then these things seem to always happen.
"They just need to hang in there and find a way to pick up results. Like they did against Newcastle - Newcastle were the better team on the night, but Everton won that through fight. Through being horrible to play against.
"I don't want to question the Everton players' will to fight because I don't know what their characters are. But that Newcastle game showed they can do it. Especially at Goodison, they have to go and fight for the shirt and fight for the club."
