The striker received the loudest ovation of Everton’s players and chants of his name in the Europa League tie were a far cry from the vitriol of 12 years agoA slender win and subdued display against the third-best team in last season’s Slovakian Fortuna Liga was not how Wayne Rooney envisaged his Everton homecoming but he did find some consolation in the outer reaches of the Europa League. One is that the homecoming is out of the way. “I’ve done it now and I can focus more on the football,” he said after the 1-0 defeat of Ruzomberok. Another is that it was a far cry from the last time he made an emotional return to Goodison Park 12 years...
Mauricio Pochettino has bucked the trend by not adding to his Tottenham squad but the rest of the top clubs have plenty of spending left in them yetAs well as this summer being remembered for the transfer window in which just about every Premier League club tried to break their own spending record, there is a good chance it will eventually be remembered for something else. To wit: the summer when no one apart from Real Madrid knew whether they had broken a transfer record or not.Take the case of Manchester United’s Romelu Lukaku, the £90m man, as the back pages have it. When Everton sold him the price was stated at £75m plus add-ons, which might have more or...
Even if Everton capture Gylfi Sigurdsson from Swansea, the big-spending Blues must still land a prolific striker after Romelu Lukaku’s departureEverton’s spending will break the £150m barrier should they finally meet Swansea’s asking price for Gylfi Sigurdsson but the cost of challenging the Champions League clique is likely to rise higher. Not even the return of Wayne Rooney to Goodison Park, with his throwback goal in Tanzania, deflects from the need to reconstruct Ronald Koeman’s attack following the exit of Romelu Lukaku. The finishing touches of an unprecedented spree could prove the most important. Related: Swansea warn Everton over Sigurdsson and raise question of tapping up Related: Wayne Rooney rekindles his Everton love affair and wants to play up front...
The striker is leaving for Everton as a record scorer and multiple trophy winner but a large constituency of fans will not mourn his departureThe oddity of Wayne Rooney’s glittering 13-year Manchester United career is that he departs for Everton to only muted applause. Despite a record that features a glut of trophies and personal achievements a strong sense of “Ta-ra Wayne, it’s about time” prevails among supporters.This can be traced to the perception Rooney never adopted the fitness regime required to reach the heights of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi and the disquiet he caused when twice in three years nearly exiting the club. Related: Wayne Rooney and Everton are well placed for a fruitful and warm reunion |...
Thirteen years after leaving Everton for Old Trafford, Wayne Rooney could be about to return - but does Ronald Koeman really a need a player who seems to have his peak years behind him?Romelu Lukaku was always going to leave a big hole to fill at Everton but few would have predicted a combination of, say, Wayne Rooney and Olivier Giroud, perhaps to take over in the likely event of the Belgian striker’s departure.Reported overtures to Arsenal’s Giroud make perfect sense; he is a reliable goalscorer, proven in the Premier League, at 30 he will have a few good years left in him and he was no longer a regular starter under Arsène Wenger. Those imagining Everton would seek a...