‘These are crap’ – Wayne Rooney had brutal take on his former Everton teammates
Wayne Rooney was certainly not left star-struck when he rose through the ranks at boyhood club Everton.
The Manchester United legend made a name for himself with the Toffees as a 16-year-old, and became the Premier League's youngest ever goalscorer when he scored against Arsenal in 2002.
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Rooney spent two full seasons at Goodison Park, before joining the Red Devils in 2004, where he went on to become their record scorer.
And despite living the dream of all Evertonians, the lifelong Blues fan later revealed that he was shocked by the standard of some his teammates at his first club.
Speaking to in 2022, Rooney delivered a brutal verdict on his once heroes after breaking into Everton's first-team.
He said: "It's mad how quickly things changed. For me to go in with Duncan [Ferguson], [Alan] Stubbs - all of them that I grew up watching.
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“To then go and play with them, train with them every day, so quickly I remember thinking: 'These are crap'.
"Obviously not all of them, but some of the players I was thinking: 'What's going on here?' Then just thinking: 'We need to sign better players'.
"I think that's the fan coming out, I couldn't believe how bad some of them were."
Despite Everton finishing a respectable seventh in the Premier League in his first full campaign in men's football, this clearly wasn't enough to impressive a young Rooney.
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The former England star continued: "I remember thinking: 'I'm better than all these players'.
"That's not disrespect to those players but some of them just weren't good enough and should never have played for Everton.
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"I remember thinking the step up would be harder."
Given Rooney's enormous talent, it is hardly surprising that he quickly found himself underwhelmed by the standard of his peers.
After his nine league goals in the 2003/04 league season helped Everton to narrowly avoid relegation, finishing 17th, the then 18-year-old moved to swap Merseyside for Manchester.
And Rooney certainly found his desired level here, as he went on to establish himself as an all-time great at Old Trafford.
During his 13-year spell with the Red Devils, he won five Premier League titles, as well as the Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup.
The current Plymouth Argyle boss also scored an unmatched 253 goals for the club, overtaking the late Sir Bobby Charlton's record.
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Despite not offering a glowing evaluation of his first set of Everton teammates, Rooney later returned to Goodison Park in 2017.
He spent a season back at his boyhood club, where he notched 10 Premier League goals in 31 games, before going on to join DC United in the MLS, and later ending his career at Derby County.
And Rooney's impact during both spells at Everton mean that he is still well and truly regarded as a legend on the blue half of Merseyside, regardless of his thoughts on his former colleagues.
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