“I turned it down…” – Former Everton player on the club managerial role

“I turned it down…” – Former Everton player on the club managerial role

Former Everton player and Derby County manager Wayne Rooney has revealed that he turned down Everton’s approach for the club’s managerial role. Talking to the media, the 36-year old manager stated that the club contacted his manager but he declined as he has a job to do at Derby County and will stay committed to the contract.

He said, “Everton approached my agent and asked me to interview for the vacant job, which I turned down.

Wayne Rooney

“I believe that I will be a Premier League manager and I believe I’m ready for that 100 per cent, and if that is with Everton one day in the future that’d be absolutely great. But I’ve got a job here to do at Derby County which is an important job to me.”

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Rooney added that the decision was difficult for him to take.

“Yes, of course, I did [think hard about it]. They got in touch with my agent and my agent let the administrators know as well. Of course, it was a very difficult decision for me.”

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Everton’s search for manager continues

The Toffees recently sacked Rafa Benitez from the managerial role after a series of poor performances. While Duncan Ferguson was appointed as the caretaker manager for the match against Aston Villa, the club seems to have already started to have shortlisted some managers for the role. Everton owner Farhad Moshiri held talks with Pereira, Lampard and Ferguson on Friday morning. Everton chairman Bill Kenwright, chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale and finance director Grant Ingles were also reported to be present in the meetings.

As per the latest reports, Portuguese manager Vitor Pereira is the favourite for the Everton role although a certain section of the fans is definitely against the potential appointment of Pereira. In what was a graffiti message outside Goodison Park, fans showed their favour for the appointment of Frank Lampard over Pereira.

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