Richard Keys makes Wayne Rooney at Everton claim to talk up Harry Kane sale from Tottenham to Manchester United
Richard Keys has claimed an Everton player told him that the squad was “relieved” when Wayne Rooney left the club for the second time.
The former England captain returned to Goodison Park 13 years after moving to Manchester United as a teenager, scoring 11 goals during the 2017/18 season under Ronald Koeman and then Sam Allardyce.
But Keys, who now believes that Harry Kane needs to leave Tottenham for Old Trafford, has compared Rooney that year to the Spurs star and Newcastle legend Alan Shearer as a forward whose scoring record has come to overshadow the team’s priorities.
Writing in his Tuesday (3 January) blog post he said promoted a Kane move, saying: “United need a centre-forward. Spurs have one that dominates the club – but that can’t win anything with them. So – surely it’s time for Spurs and Kane to try something different? He’d be a massive addition at Old Trafford.
He went on to drop his Toffees claim: “Kane is all-powerful. He does what he wants – but what if what he wants actually has a harmful effect on the ‘team’?
“It happened at Everton after Rooney’s return. He’d sit in mid-field spraying worldies about enjoying himself and entertaining the crowd – but he wasn’t doing what his team-mates wanted.
“I remember one in particular telling me how relieved the rest were when Rooney moved on.”
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Keys may well have heard from one member of Rooney’s squad that there was relief that he had moved on, as it can become stifling to play alongside a player with such massive status, but whether it was universal is another matter.
Rooney arrived back at Goodison Park on a free transfer during the same window that the club spent nearly £80million on Davy Klaassen and Gylfi Sigurdsson, before also adding Cenk Tosun in January for £27million more.
Although the massive spend that year, which also included Jordan Pickford and Michael Keane, was partly funded by the sale of Romelu Lukaku, it was that kind of cavalier transfer policy which leaves the club in the financial situation they are currently trying to battle through.
Frank Lampard would probably be glad of the introduction of 11 goals as he looks to find attacking help from wherever he can currently.
And Everton fans would likely marvel at the idea that Antonio Conte is managing to find fault with his Tottenham squad that added former Toffees star Richarlison to Kane, Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski in the summer.
Lampard is continuing to look for attacking help during the January transfer window despite bringing Ellis Simms back from Sunderland, but an enquiry for Randal Kolo Muani is surely going nowhere.