Wayne Rooney has admitted discovering his Everton teammates were "crap" after breaking into the first-team at Goodison Park as a teenager.
Rooney was just 16 when he made his Premier League debut for the Merseyside club, making his England bow when on Everton's books before leaving for Manchester United. He returned to the club towards the end of his career before retiring in 2020 and moving into management with Derby County and current club D.C. United.
The 37-year-old scored a record 53 goals for England and 253 for United, establishing himself as one of the best players in the history of the Premier League. Even as a youngster, though, he felt underwhelmed when playing with the likes of club stalwarts Duncan Ferguson and Alan Stubbs for the Toffees.
"It's mad how quick it changed," Rooney told Toffee TV. "For me to go in with Duncan, Stubbsy, all of them who I grew up watching, to then go and play with them, train with them every day and play with them, so quickly I remember thinking 'these are crap'.
"Obviously not all of them, but some of the players I was thinking, "what's going on here?" Then just thinking 'we need to sign better players'. I think that's the fan coming out, I couldn't believe how bad some of them were.
"I remember thinking 'I'm better than all these players'. That's not disrespect to them players but some of them just weren't good enough and should never have played for Everton," he added. "I remember thinking the step up would be harder."
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Rooney was still just 16 when he scored his first Premier League goal against Arsenal, and he netted 17 times in two seasons during his first spell. He reached double-figures in his second stint as well, scoring 10 in the league and 11 in all competitions during the 2017-18 season.
The former forward took over at D.C. United earlier in 2022 with the MLS side struggling towards the foot of the table. He oversaw a number of signings, with former Premier League players Christian Benteke and Ravel Morrison among those to move to Audi Field, but they failed to climb into the playoff places last season.
Rooney also handed a debut to Matai Akinmboni last season, with the 15-year-old becoming the third-youngest player in MLS history. "He's 15 and I have to protect him," Rooney said of the teenager after giving him a 45-minute run-out against Real Salt Lake. "But I just felt he was ready to come in and play. Is he going to play every game? Of course not. He's still a very young boy.
