Wayne Rooney confessed he hated playing as a central striker at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, despite scoring 34 goals in one season there in 2009-10.
The United and England all-time record goalscorer spent two full seasons as a centre-forward at Old Trafford, in Cristiano Ronaldo’s last season at the club in 2008-09 and the campaign after the Portuguese season left.
In those two seasons, Rooney netted 54 times in 93 matches in all competitions but he has now admitted to Rio Ferdinand and Marcus Rashford that he found the centre-forward role as the hardest to play in.
He told BT Sport: ‘Them two seasons (2008-09, 2009-10) were the two seasons I played as a number nine on my own. I played there in and out in different games but I played for the whole season in them two years.
‘I actually didn’t enjoy the games as much. I’ve always been a player that wants to get involved in the game and it is something which Marcus will learn over next few years.
‘It took me seven or eight years to learn how to play there and to learn to play with your back to goal. It’s the hardest position to play. You’ve got big centre-backs coming through back of you and you’re on your own.
‘I weren’t enjoying it, but it was my best two years of scoring. I remember coming off the pitch and scoring two goals and saying, “I was awful. I didn’t play that well today. I didn’t have that many touches of the ball.”‘
Rooney’s first season as a sole striker saw him guide United to the Premier League title and reach the Champions League final, where they lost 2-0 to Barcelona in Rome.
The following season, which saw Rooney score 34 times in that calendar year, saw the Red Devils finish second in the Premier League table behind Carlo Ancelotti’s double-winning Chelsea side.
Didier Drogba won the Golden Boot that season with 29 goals, rather than Rooney’s 26 top-flight strikes.
After that summer, Rooney asked United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to switch him to an attacking midfield role – a request that baffled his former Red Devils team-mate Ferdinand.
The centre-back recalled to Rooney: ‘We spoke when we came back to pre-season. I remember speaking to you and you said, “I’m going to speak to the manager and say I want to play as a number ten.”
‘I was sitting there going, “But you scored 30-odd goals this season Wazza.” But you weren’t enjoying your football and I couldn’t get my head around that.’
Rooney moved further back in his later Manchester United years and even went as far back as a deep-lying midfielder by the time he left Old Trafford after the 2016-17 season.
He ended his career as United’s all-time record goalscorer with 253 goals, while he also has the most England international goals in history with 53 strikes.
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