Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has said that he was emotional when his former captain Wayne Rooney left the club.
Rooney left the Red Devils to join his boyhood club Everton while Romelu Lukaku headed in the opposite direction. Rooney was out of favour under Mourinho and was limited to just 25 appearances resulting in just 5 goals for the former England captain. Lukaku however, was the second top goal scorer in the league last year with 25 goals in 37 appearances.
“I miss him a lot” said Mourinho. “I think he is a fantastic guy. I’m not the kind of guy that normally gets emotional in my job and I did it with him when he left.”
A great signing for Everton
The United manager accepted Rooney's justification of wanting to move on in search of more regular playing time and believes he will be a good addition to the Everton squad. “I’m sure he’s going to be very, very good for Everton and Everton is going to be very, very good for him” added Mourinho.
“It was not difficult [to let him go] because he deserves that, it’s not difficult. He deserves what he got and what he got was for our desire for him to stay and our respect by letting it be completely clear we would like him to stay.”
Wayne Rooney became Manchester United’s record goal scorer against Stoke City on the 21st January this year. His free kick meant that he had broken Sir Bobby Charlton’s long standing record of 249 goals.
Rooney needs regular playing time
Mourinho went on to talk about how it is important for Rooney to be playing regular football at the later stage of his career. “At his age, I think with his genetic, with his body, with his personality too, I don’t think he’s the kind of player to be less motivated, not so happy because he’s not playing every minute. I think with his body, he needs to be working at a high intensity every day, every match. So I think he deserves that respect from us.”