Manchester United have a deep roster of club legends, and Paul Scholes has now revealed his role in signing one.
The Manchester United of today is one unrecognisable from 20 years ago when Sir Alex Ferguson was rebuilding his squad ahead of another golden era.
United went three seasons without a league title from 2003/04 until 2006/07 and in this time Sir Alex was building his next squad of world-class talents – bringing Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick into the club.
At the same time, United had retained some of the best members of the Class of ’92. This included Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and also Paul Scholes.
This transitional period led to the Champions League trophy back at Old Trafford, along with three successive Premier League titles. In this time and beyond, one man was quietly becoming one of the club’s biggest legends.
Now, Scholes has shared his role in the signing.
Paul Scholes says he played a part in signing Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney was a phenomenon for United during his 13-year stay at the club which extended beyond Sir Alex’s 2013 retirement.
The Evertonian became United’s record goal-scorer with 253 goals in 559 appearances. This is quite incredible considering he was not an out-and-out striker for the majority.
Rooney cost United £27m from Goodison Park in 2004 as an 18-year-old, and the fee turned out to be an absolute bargain.
Now, speaking on the latest episode of The Overlap, another club legend, Scholes, has shared the role he played in United signing Rooney.
“I tapped Wayne Rooney up”, the midfield great explained. “I did get asked to make a phone call to him, so I rang him.”
Scholes was then asked how the call went, and he had a simple response. “Well he signed for us so… But I didn’t get any reward for it.”
Rooney was in many ways the catalyst for Sir Alex’s next great side as while Ronaldo stole the plaudits, the No.10 was doing the dirty work.
Rooney went on to become Manchester United’s best-ever
Rooney beat Sir Bobby Charlton’s goal record in his final season with the club before Jose Mourinho led him return to Everton. Rooney would then head to the USA before retiring at Derby County.
Now a manager, Rooney is determined to become the United boss – which does look rather unlikely right now.
However, the 39-year-old has more than enough memories to last a lifetime from playing for United.
In his time at the club, he won five league titles, one Champions League, one Club World Cup, one Europa League, one FA Cup and also four League Cups.
It is safe to say the deal worked out very well and if Scholes has a part to play in how it was completed, he deserves plenty of plaudits. Fans are now waiting for the next Rooney to step up in this current United side which sits 15th in the league.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 15 |  Man UtdManchester United | 25 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 28 | 35 | -7 | 29 |
Well, this could come in the form of another Rooney with Wayne’s son Kai coming through United’s academy. However, at 14, fans will not be happy if he is the saviour we are waiting for as it is years away.
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