Revealed: Rooney wrote transfer request in Everton canteen to force Man United move

A young Wayne Rooney celebrates scoring a goal for Everton in a past match during his Everton days [Courtesy]

Wayne Rooney has revealed he wrote out a transfer request in the Everton canteen to secure his switch to Manchester United.

Rooney, 34, came through the ranks at boyhood club Everton before making a big-money move to Old Trafford in 2004.

The former England captain was just 18 when he made the switch to United but insists he knew he was ready to have an impact on the biggest stage.

And he even wrote out his own transfer request to give to manager David Moyes to secure the switch.

"I'm an ambitious person and I want to win trophies. I knew staying at Everton for another year, another two years...that wasn't going to happen," Rooney told Amazon Prime.

"I felt I was good enough to go into the Manchester United team so I was ready to move. To be honest I was ready to move the year before but that didn't happen.

"I went in to David Moyes and told him this is the situation and in fairness Everton needed the money.

"I think deep down he knew so I went in and told him I wanted to leave and he said 'if you want to leave, you'll have to put a transfer request in'.

"So I said 'ok' and went out into the canteen, wrote a transfer request out on a piece of paper and said 'here you go'."

Rooney was vilified by Everton supporters for leaving the club and spent 13 years at Old Trafford before an emotional return to Goodison Park.

He adds: "When I got in the Everton first team I knew I was the best player.

"That's not being cocky...plus we had a very bad team at the time. I knew I was the best player and I knew before long I would have to move on if I wanted to win trophies."

Rooney will officially become player-coach at Derby County in January.