Wayne Rooney reveals agreement he made with Jose Mourinho at Man United – as he questions Man City’s decision to let Kyle Walker leave after late collapse against Real Madrid
- Club captain Kyle Walker left Man City to join AC Milan on loan last month
- Wayne Rooney thinks he should have stayed at City until the end of the season
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Wayne Rooney questioned Manchester City’s decision to allow Kyle Walker to leave the club last month after watching Pep Guardiola’s men slip to a 3-2 defeat by Real Madrid on Tuesday night.
Club captain Walker informed City that he wanted to explore opportunities elsewhere in the early stages of last month’s transfer window, and subsequently joined Italian giants AC Milan on loan.
But Rooney is adamant that City should have put up more of a fight to keep the experienced defender.
City led twice at the Etihad on Tuesday, but collapsed in the closing stages as late goals from Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham handed Madrid the advantage in their Champions League play-off tie. Rooney believes things could have been different if Walker was still around, and compared the England full back’s situation to one that he found himself in at Manchester United back in 2017.
After falling out of favour under Jose Mourinho, Rooney was keen to leave in January but agreed to stay until the end of the season, and he feels City should have reached a similar deal with Walker.
Speaking as a pundit on Amazon Prime Video, Rooney said: ‘There’s always a time when players leave the football club, and I think at this moment in time, with Man City going through this blip they are going through, and Kyle Walker being the captain of the club, and the importance of him over the last few years, I think, probably an agreement to say, “Okay, let’s wait till the summer. Help us out”. Maybe the league is too far out of their reach now, but they’ve still got the Champions League. Help us get through the season.
Kyle Walker left Man City last month to join AC Milan on loan for the rest of the season
Wayne Rooney believes City should have tried to convince him to stay until the summer
Rooney revealed he made an agreement with Jose Mourinho to stick around at Man United despite falling out of favour
‘I had it with Mourinho. When I wasn’t playing with Jose Mourinho, and I had the same conversation in January, and he said to me, “stay to the end of season, I need you to help us in the Europa League”.
‘It was hard for me to take, but I respected him for that, and we shook hands, and then I left at the end of the season. So I think that would have been a more sensible move for Kyle.’
Rooney went on to win the Europa League and League Cup in the second half of his final season at United before leaving Old Trafford to re-join his boyhood club, Everton.
But Walker opted not to stick around, and is now trying to rediscover his best form at Milan.
City may already be regretting letting him go after a difficult evening for their right backs on Tuesday night.
Manuel Akanji started on the right flank, but went down injured in the latter stages of the first half and was unable to return after the break.
His replacement, Rico Lewis, was then robbed of possession in the build-up to the winning goal by Vinicius Jr, before the Brazilian winger set up a simple finish for Bellingham.
