Wayne Rooney has admitted it would be a 'dream' to take charge of Everton - just months after rejecting the chance to be interviewed for the manager’s role at the club.
Rooney, a boyhood Everton fan who joined the club aged nine, enjoyed two spells at Goodison Park during his playing career. A memorable effort against Arsenal saw him open his Premier League goal account.
The former England international left for Manchester United in 2004 and went on to spend 13 record-breaking years at Old Trafford, becoming United’s all-time leading goalscorer and a Premier League and Champions League winner.
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He headed back to Everton in 2017, but lasted just one season before moving to MLS and linking up with D.C. United. Rooney was heavily linked with another emotional return to Goodison following Rafa Benitez's sacking at the start of the year.
And he confirmed in January that the Blues did make contact to sound him out via his agent Paul Stretford before he eventually rebuffed the offer of an interview.
"Everton approached my agent and asked me to interview for the job, which I turned down,” Rooney, who was Derby County boss at the time, said.
"I believe I will be a Premier League manager and I am ready for that 100 percent. If that comes with Everton in the future, great. But I have a job at Derby, which is important to me and now I'm getting ready for a game on Sunday."
But Rooney, speaking in an interview with CNN, has now revealed managing Everton or Manchester United 'would be a dream' with the two clubs close to his 'heart'.
He said: "Obviously, Everton and Manchester United are the two clubs who are really close to my heart so to manage one of the two would be a dream.
"I'm still gaining a lot of experience from what I'm doing. You want to learn, and I want to go into Everton or Manchester United,
“I want to go in there and be able to give the best version of me. I'd be naive to say 'I'm going to go and manage Manchester United in the next year or so'.
“For me, it's about putting the work in and developing myself and if I do that and I do it in the right way, then I feel these jobs, these opportunities will come to me eventually.”
He then added: "I love it. Trying to develop players, young players, but also having that relationship with the more senior players, and trying to develop them.
"The appealing thing, obviously going back to DC and going in as head coach, for me was if you look at all the big teams and the culture, it's so diverse with different nationalities, different religions."
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