Rio Ferdinand has revealed how Sir Alex Ferguson had major doubts over Wayne Rooney’s temperament during his time at Manchester United.
Rooney went on to become a United great during his time at Old Trafford, surpassing Bobby Charlton’s record to become the club’s top goalscorer of all-time.
The former Everton forward was renowned for his hot-headed nature, which on occasion would land him in trouble – most notably when he was sent off for England against Portugal during the 2006 World Cup.
And, as Ferdinand revealed in the Vibe With Five podcast, that approach left Ferguson a little concerned when it came to the big games for United.
Discussing playing against Liverpool at Anfield, Ferdinand said: “You’ve got to be made of the right stuff. I remember Sir Alex Ferguson, I don’t think he really trusted Wazza [Rooney] even in that situation sometimes.
“Wazza would get too hyped up. Wazza wasn’t scared, he had to manage himself in terms of, he’d explode because he’s got so much pent-up anger of it’s where he’s from, a lot of his mates are from that area, he’s an ex-Evertonian and he’s playing for Man United and they were on his case the whole time.
“When he was young, anger management was probably a part of his game that he had to curtail a little bit and work on, and I think early on the manager was a bit like ‘I’m going to have to take him out, I don’t think I’m going to play him in these games sometimes’.
“I think he had big conversations about that, and he used to ebb and flow about it, whereas any other game in the calendar, Wayne Rooney is one of the first names on the team-sheet.”
Despite knowing his teammate had a tendency to get angry, that didn’t stop Ferdinand from winding Rooney up at times in training.
“Oh my god, angry Wayne Rooney is playing in my Premier League all-time 11, 100 per cent,” Ferdinand added.
“I used to have him on a bit of string, we used to argue every training session. Me and him used to swear at each other and argue like you’ve never known, in games and in training all the time.
“Whether it was the same team or opposite team it didn’t matter. He’d be shouting at me about something, just growling.”
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