England legend Wayne Rooney reveals he almost played for another country | Football

England legend Wayne Rooney has revealed he came very close to playing for another country.

Rooney established himself as one of England’s greatest ever players during an international career that spanned 15 years.

The footballer-turned-manager amassed 120 caps – the second-most in history – and scored 53 goals, which was the record before Harry Kane became England’s all-time leading goalscorer in 2023.

While Rooney was a mainstay in the England team for over a decade, it turns out things could have been very differently as the legendary striker very nearly ended up representing the Republic of Ireland instead.

Speaking on The Overlap podcast, Rooney revealed he was approached by former Ireland boss Mick McCarthy in 2003 about pledging his allegiance to The Boys in Green.

Rooney, who is of Irish descent through his father, was open to the idea but rejected the approach after he was only offered a place in Ireland’s U21squad.

Asked which country he would have represented other than England, Rooney said: ‘Mine would be Ireland. It would have been great.

‘Mick [McCarthy] called me up when I was 16. I spoke to [former Everton manager] Lee Carsley and he spoke to Mick.

‘I was close to doing it and then they said they wanted to call me up to Ireland U21s. I was like, I’m not playing for Ireland U21s, if you want me pick me in the proper team!

‘And then it never happened and I started playing for England.’

Former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright then said: ‘Wow, that’s close then! So if they pulled you into the first-team you would have went?’

Rooney replied: ‘Probably, yeah.’

Football associations approaching players to convince them to switch allegiances has become increasingly common in recent years.

Declan Rice and Jack Grealish both switched to England after spending years in Ireland’s underage teams. Rice even made three caps for Republic of Ireland before switching.

‘I had a problem with this when I was with England and we started doing parades for Jack and Declan to convince players who to play for,’ said Manchester United legend and former England coach Gary Neville.

‘There was a meeting. I’m really strong about this, tell them to pick the country they want to play for. It’s not a job interview.

‘I was really hard on that, I felt strongly about it and didn’t think we should be going to convince or beg players to pick you.

‘It’s a feeling you get, it’s not a conversation. Pick a country based on your feeling.’

Ex-Manchester United and Ireland captain Roy Keane added: ‘If you need to persuade a player you’re in trouble. You can’t pander to players, that’s not good.’

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