Wayne Rooney had brutal weight-loss hacks at Manchester United after turning up to pre-season 7lbs too heavy
England and Premier League legend Wayne Rooney has revealed he hated pre-season during his career.
The Plymouth manager joined his former Manchester United teammate Gary Neville’s this week ahead of the start of the football season this weekend.
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But despite Rooney now being in charge of putting his players through their paces in the summer, there was a time he would do his best to avoid working too hard when he was in their shoes.
The 38-year-old left Ian Wright stunned when he revealed he never trained before he came back to the club after the summer break.
“I used to hate pre-season,” he said. “I'd come back every pre-season six to seven pounds overweight.
“So I knew I had to put the work in."
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“I used to take the bike in the steam room the day before we were back in,” he grinned. “Then not eat until we’d been weighed!
Unable to control his laughter, he continued: “Honestly the night before we’d go in to get weighed, I’d sit in the [steam room] for 90 minutes.
“Fully clothed! I wouldn’t eat a thing, drink a thing, I’d be struggling to get in the building!”
And it turns out that despite being one of England and the Premier League’s greatest ever players, he used to have a few tips and tricks to make pre-season itself a bit easier for himself.
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On having to participate in bleep tests, Rooney said: "I used to drop out early all the time.
“Because next time you do it, you need to do better! As soon as the keepers came out, I was out!”
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Even David Moyes’ pre-seasons at Everton were gruelling according to Rooney.
The Toffees were training in blistering heat out in Austria - and Rooney, who was 16 in his first pre-season tour, struggled more than others for one hilarious reason.
However, he quickly found a solution.
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He said: “Moysey’s pre-seasons were tough. We used to go to Austria and for the first one I was 16.
“Went out there and you’d get up at like six in the morning and do the run and do the session, but Moysey was so intense.
“I remember Tommy Gravesen and Lee Carsley, they both had their head shaved. I was 16 and I burned my head. But it was like 100 degrees in my first ever pre-season.
“In the end I had to cut the bed sheet up and make a bandanna!”
It wasn't just his pre-seasons in the Premier League that he struggled with, either.
“When I went to the MLS, the team was in LA, I went out and did three days," he said. "It was 100 degrees, my face was like beetroot!
“I could barely walk or do the runs. I remember walking down the street and thinking ‘what am I doing’.
“But I was literally in agony!"
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There was one thing he liked about pre-season, though...
"I was [at DC United] at the time on my own, I loved it because I could sleep in the afternoon and that was the best thing for me in pre-season, the sleep in the afternoon."
Despite sometimes cutting corners pre-season hacks, Rooney went on to be England’s highest ever goalscorer, netting 53 goals in 120 appearances.
He has since been overtaken by current captain Harry Kane, who has 66 goals in 97 games.
Rooney is still Man United’s record scorer, though.
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He bagged a whopping 253 goals in 559 games as he wrote himself into Old Trafford legend.
His first season with Championship Plymouth begins on Sunday as the Pilgrims travel to Hillsborough to face Sheffield Wednesday.
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