Wayne Rooney has revealed how he “disrespected” Sir Alex Ferguson after coming close to leaving Manchester United in 2010.
Rooney became involved in an infamous battle over a new contract at Old Trafford that summer, with reports at the time suggesting he was ready to quit the club.
Manchester City had been heavily linked with signing the former England star before he eventually put pen to paper on a new deal at United, ending speculation of him leaving the club.
The spat had come about as a result of the departures of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez the year before, which Rooney links with the decline at United starting.
The club’s all-time record goalscorer has revealed he confronted legendary manager Ferguson in order to try and find out how United were going to continue their success of the previous years.
"I just felt at that time the club had offered me a new five-year deal, we’d sold Carlos Tevez, sold Cristiano Ronaldo, so I wanted reassurances of who we’re bringing in if you want me to commit myself for the next five years,” Rooney told the Mirror.
"Who are we bringing in to improve or are you going to try to build a team over the next three, four or five years to then be successful?
"That’s literally what I was saying and (laughs) he told me to get out of the office!
"He’s probably the best manager of all time, so to have a young lad come in and ask him questions of how the club moving forward, I completely understand that as well.
"He probably felt a bit disrespected from that point of view, but I was doing it from a personal point of view.
"If you want me to commit myself for five years, I need to know what the plan is, what players we’re bringing in and obviously to get them answers, so it led to what happened after that.”
Rooney added: "From then it became difficult but I think actually if you move on a few years down the line the majority of Manchester United fans agree.
"They were asking the same questions which I was asking a few years before because I could see where the club was going."
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